The indigo pony slammed the front door of her house with extreme force that nearly knocked over every picture frame that rested on nearby counters and the walls.  The small old house shook lightly from the shock, but settled down easily.  The door suffered a large crack, and a broken hinge, but she'll deal with that later.

Minuette heavily trotted through her house to her bathroom, kicking away empty booze bottles and shot glasses on her way.  Minuette didn't like to drink, drinking was for depressed alcoholics.  The word 'depressed' didn't even exist in her dictionary.  But ever since the day after the Summer Sun Celebration, and the kiss that devastated the blue mare, the only thing that she could do to try to keep her from tearing apart her house was downing as many shots of scotch as she could before passing out.  Once there, she opened up the mirror to her medicine cabinet, and grabbed a dozen tablets of aspirin for her throbbing hangover.  

Minuette looked into the mirror, and just stared at herself for a few long minutes.  Her mane was ruffled up and partly faded, she had bags under her bloodshot eyes.  All she could do was contemplate at her reflection, and overview the horror of what she became.

Get a hold of yourself, Minuette!  This isn't you!  You're not depressed, you're not sad, you never get like this.  Snap out of it!

This was not your fault.

Minuette perked up and looked around like a wild animal that was being stalked by a predator.  She looked around her bathroom, in the shower, and even outside to the bedroom.  Nothing was found, not a soul was in the house but her.  She quietly and slowly went back to her position at the mirror.  "What was that?"  She thought aloud.

Do not be alarmed, I am only you.

Once again, she jerked as if she was being hit.  "Who's there?!"

I am your conscience, the voice in the back of your head that helps us when we get troubled.

Conscience?  Was..was she talking to herself?  Was she going crazy?  The indigo unicorn widened her eyes.  She can't be going crazy!  

You are not crazy...trust me...

Apparently this 'Conscience' can communicate through thought.  What was it that it said before though?  That it can help her.  That idea sounded like just what she needed.  So...you can help me?

Of course, I am here to guide us through this darkness and get us back on our hooves!

What should I do?

Simple, get rid of her from your mind..

Twinkleshine?!  I can't do that!  I...I lover her!

Of course you do, but we know for a fact that deep down you know that you will never have a chance with her

I...But I...

See?  You know it, I know you know it.  You do want Twinkleshine, correct?

I...I do want Twinkleshine...

But you can't, because she is in love with Moondancer!

But...what do I do?  I'm so sad, I can't stand having the love of my life taken away by one of my best friends.

First, clean yourself up.  The others will surely get suspicious of your actions and attitude.  You must learn to control your emotions and stash them behind The Wall.

The...Wall?

Yes, The Wall is a metaphorical barrier that traps in every emotion, thought, hope, fear, vision, and feeling.  The Wall is as strong as one makes it.  Some ponies build their Wall up so high and sturdy that they barely have any character to them.  Lemon Hearts is an excellent example, she has a wall the size of Manehatten in her head.  You need to do that.  We need to build up this wall and stuff all our sadness and frustration behind it.  Only then will we know happiness again.  Shall we begin?

It didn't take long for Minuette to come up with an answer.  She wanted to feel joy again, she wanted to know what it was like to be happy and carefree, completely ignorant to negativity.  She pleaded for those feelings to come again.  

Yes.

Excellent!

<~>

"For the last time..."  Lyra said while giggling, "No, you can't live in my basement!"

"But C'moooooooon!  It's so coooool!"  Moondancer pleaded.

After Minuette's random outburst, the others just decided to end the meeting there and continue it at a later time when Minuette was no longer grumpy.  Before they all left Lyra's home, the green unicorn gave them a 'grand tour' of her house.  She showed them the bar in the basement, the spare bedrooms, the game room with the pool table, and the secret room behind the bookshelf.  Moondancer kept asking her how in the name of the Light was she able to afford all this.  'Simple' Lyra had said, 'I'm a musician, and I saved the money from all those performances I did in Canterlot.'

It was true, Lyra was a somewhat mentionable pony in Canterlot.  Word has gotten around at her abilities to play the lyre, and more recently the harp.  Though, she is no Octavia, and has always dreamed of meeting that mare one day, she still has done some performances at fancy restaurants or Canterlot up-style parties.  One day, Lyra will have everything.  She will be a famous composer like the renowned Octavia, and maybe even have the honor of performing on stage with her!  That thought always made Lyra giddy.

"What about you, Twinkle?"  Moondancer turned to her marefriend, "You think it'd be totally awesome to live in Lyra's basement?"

Twinkleshine rolled her eyes, "I have to admit, it's a wonderful basement, and I do love to play pool, but no.  Living in her basement would just be silly."

Lemon piped in to the conversation at this point.  "And I'm pretty sure Lyra doesn't want to hear you two fucking all night."

With that said, all the unicorns around Lemon started blushing furiously.  Twinkleshine and Moondancer parted gazes, and Lyra slowly backed away from the two.  Amethyst put her hoof to her mouth and looked down.  There was a few minutes of awkward silence, but Moondancer finally broke it.

"We...um...actually haven't.... gotten there....yet...."  The last word was mumbled almost inaudibly, but Twinkleshine still understood, which made her blush even more and left her wondering how her face could even get more red without painting it.

"Anyway!" Amethyst piped in, "We need to see what's up with Colgate.  I have never seen her yell like that at us.  Something must be wrong."

"Obviously." Lemon added.

Amethyst facehoofed, "Let's just go..."

That being said, they all pushed away Lemon's comments from their dirty subconsciousness and trotted down the road to Minuette's house.  The indigo unicorn lived a couple blocks away from Lyra's house, and right across the street from that bakery, Sugarcube Corner.  It wasn't a long walk, about five minutes.

However, it was a rather awkward walk.  As much as they tried, Lemon's inappropriate comment somehow kept sneaking its way back into their minds.  Amethyst and Lyra couldn't even look at the two for the time being, and Twinkleshine kept blushing redder every five seconds.

Twinkleshine's thoughts led her to a more serious one, but still on the same subject.  Was she ready to make such a step in her relationship with Moondancer?  It has been, what, three days?  Twinkleshine has never been with anypony before,and has...not much knowledge on the matter.  The only thing she knows is what her parents told her about it.  'Sex is a very sacred form of love.  It is only to be done with a very special pony and only if you truly love them.'  And also what Moondancer said stuck in her head, looming and taunting her.

"yet"

She stole a glance from the gray mare next to her, wondering what she was thinking about the subject.  Would Moondancer know anything about it?  Twinkleshine knows Moondancer is not a virgin, so maybe.  However, when would be the appropriate time to do...it.  Was Moondancer comfortable with it?

All of her questions were put on hold as they arrived.  Something was amiss as they came to the door.  Twinkleshine looked around and noticed two of her friends were missing.

"Where did Amethyst and Lemon go?"  Twinkleshine asked.  She never really was fond of using the nicknames they called each other.  Instead, she uses their full names.  She could never really explain it, it just sounds better to her.  All of them knew this, and never really cared about it.

"Hearts said that we should leave Colgate alone and let her cool off, then she left.  Amy went back to talk her out of leaving."  Lyra replied.

Moondancer shrugged, It was probably better that Lemon was not here, due to the fact that her negativity might just agitate Minuette more then she seems to be.  Lyra knocked on the door and waited a few seconds.  Indistinguishable sounds of struggled could be heard behind the door.  Some of it sounded like banging, one sounded like as if Colgate slammed a door inside, opened it, and slammed it again, and another sounded like glass being banged against glass.  And after a few seconds of weird noises, she finally answered the door...

....With a smile.

"Oh, hey girls!"  Minuette said in her usual cheery tone.

The three mares exchanged confused glances.  Less then twenty minutes ago Minuette was irritated and disgruntled.  Now she's acting as if that never happened.

"You ok, Colgate?"  Lyra asked carefully.

Minuette giggled, "Of course!  Why wouldn't I be?  C'mon in!"  Minuette stepped to the side and allowed her friends entry.  The three mares slowly entered Minuette's home.  Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.  Her home was very up-kept and clean, and her living room was graced with a plethora of photos from her friends and family.  The three unicorns sat on the couch, and Minuette made her way over sitting on the chair adjacent from them.

"So," Minuette started, "What brings you here?  Not that I don't want you here, I'm always happy to see my friends, but anywho, what's up?"  

Yes....yes and yes.  Everything checked out completely.  Minuette was acting like she always does, cheery and optimistic.  A permanent smile slapped on her face.  The only confusing thing was, what happened at the meeting?  That normally wasn't the Minuette they all know and love.  The last time the indigo unicorn ever got that upset was when the school bully and his friends pulled a prank that went a little too far.  

Their screams were bloodcurdling, and none of them slept for a month.

A beast lies inside Minuette, dormant but not easily awoken.  The others were well aware of this fact.  Behind the cheery eyes of the indigo unicorn, a flicker of light stays lit.  When fueled enough, it will rage into an inferno.  She has only done this three times:  Once with the prank, once when one of her coltfriends tried taking advantage of her and ditching her when she refused, and then there was the meeting nearly ten minutes ago when she almost raged out.

Minuette doesn't like this side of her.  She despises hate and vengeance.  It goes against her morals to be spiteful, even to those who deserve it.  She does all she can to avoid letting the fire grow too big, but when the inferno blazes to high, the only thing that can put it out was to let it loose.  

After none of the others wanted to answer, Twinkleshine was the only one to speak out, "Well it's just that, is there anything troubling you?  You seemed a little irritated at the meeting."

Minuette sighed, but retained her smile, "Yea, I'm really sorry, I just had a long night last night, and I have a headache now."  She slightly blushed, "Really sorry."

"Long night?"  Moondancer questioned, "What were you doing?"

Minuette risked a glance over to a cabinet in her kitchen that was dangerously hanging open.  "Oh nothing---"   She was cut off by the sound of crashing glass.  She winced and slowly turned over to see the destruction of an empty bottle of scotch, a few beer bottles, and multiple shot glasses.--"really."  As quickly as she could, she surrounded the broken glass with a indigo aura and stuffed it in the trash can.  "Silly me, I must have put the glasses in wrong.  I'll have to get more later.  Anyway, yes I'm fine, just a headache."

"Just one last thing."  Twinkleshine said with overloading seriousness.  "Are you ok with me and Moondancer being together?"

Minuette blinked.  This is where she had to listen to her conscience.  It yelled at her to stay calm and remember what it said.  She tried to, she concentrated as much as she could to force her emotions behind her Wall.  All her sadness, all her frustration, all her agitation, was battling against the Wall to tear it down and spill themselves out.  

They kept pushing against the mental barrier, not letting up once.  Some of them told her to admit her feelings to Twinkleshine.  Some of them wanted to lash out in an aggressive way, and others just wanted to cry.  Just cry and confess everything.  Just to throw her hooves around her three friends and let it all out.  These ones had the smallest voice.

But no, she didn't give in, she fought back and commanded her emotions.  They cowered behind her Wall like a scared puppy.   She was in control, not them, not anyone.  She smiled at her friends, tilted her head and closed her eyes, "Of course I'm ok with you two!  Why wouldn't I be?!"

All three let out a sigh of relief, knowing that their last friend approved lifted the final weight off their shoulders.  Now that all that was sorted out.  The three mares said goodbye and took their leave.  Minuette waved them off while Amethyst and Lemon came back to the scene.  Lyra, Moondancer, and Twinkleshine all explained what happened.  Amethyst seemed relieved, and Lemon furrowed her brow, then shrugged.

Minuette closed the door and leaned heavily against it.  "That wasn't so bad I guess."

You did good.  Not many ponies can just ignore their emotions and stuff them away that easily.  It usually takes a few years and a strong mind.  How do you feel?

"I feel...not so bad actually.  I kind of just feel like...shrugging it off and ignoring it."

Good....Step one is complete.

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