Falling Away (August)

August 17th

Alright, lemme just start off by stating that I really didn't want to write in this stupid journal, because writing is a thing for eggheads, y'know? I could say that I was kind of forced by Twi to write this, as she said something about me being able to get my thoughts down in it. But whatever, I guess it will work as I'm already pouring my thoughts in this journal... She also said something about me not being afraid to write down all my thoughts.

Yeah, I'll get to that later on. You see, she wanted me to get writing because they say I've been acting up for a while now, I don't know what they mean by that though... I mean, I am just being kinda protective of myself when I'm around... Him. Well, I guess it's a a dude because of what I've heard, Rarity refers to him as being a gentlecolt. Heck, I don't care about that. I just don't want to be around him.

I guess I should explain what I don't like about him. Well, I should start off by mentioning that he's... Different from the rest. He's not a pony, but he still kinda acts like one though... Don't get me wrong, Gilda was also different, but she was my friend way back to when I was still a filly so that's different from this guy. He's tall, and I mean, really tall. Almost as tall as Princess Celestia, and that says something... He looks kinda like a monkey, but bigger and the only hair he has is on his head. The girls say that there's nothing wrong with him, but there's nothing wrong about being a little careful, right?

Oh, who am I kidding... What I am about to write will never, and I mean never get out as then my image will be destroyed. I am scared of him... Horseapples... Why am I the one to be scared? That's 'Shy's job! But nooo, she was one of the first ponies to talk to him... She and her stupid instinct of helping animals and stuff...

Then the rest of my friends got to know him. But me? I... I just couldn't find it in me to get closer to him than what I was... I honestly can't believe that me, Rainbow Dash of all ponies, pulled a Fluttershy right then and there. I just backed away from him and flew away as fast as I could. Twilight and Fluttershy came along and found me later on, I didn't tell them everything, I just told them that I wasn't feeling that good and had to go and chill for a bit. Fluttershy accepted it, but Twilight raised an eyebrow but went with it after a while.

The point for all of this is only one thing, and that thing is that I have... Oh, what the hay did Twilight call it... Oh yeah, now I remember! That Twilight with her fancy books and all other science...y stuff. She honestly have to get out more, as Pinkie always tell her. But whatever, here it is;

The name's Rainbow Dash, and I have Xenophobia.

Twilight said that I should write in this as often I can with every experience I have with this... Xeno...whatever I wrote before. So, I'll get on with writing that whenever I feel like it. I don't know if this manure will help me solve this thing, but yeah, let's hope for the best, eh? But I have to finish this thing up now, as I have work tomorrow. Clearin' clouds and being all-around awesome is a tiring task, y'know. That's why I nap from time to time during the day. I'm not gonna keep on writing this, as it's starting to get kind of boring. So... Yeah... Bye, I guess.

August 19th

I... I am kinda freaking out right now, so I hope my writing will still be... Somewhat readable. So, I had finished work for the day and decided to head out to AJ's farm to hang out with her for a while. When I got there, Big Mac told me that she was still out bucking trees in the north-eastern part of the orchard. I said my thanks, being polite and all that jazz. I flew out to that part of the orchard and got there within a minute. I'm not the fastest flier in Equestria for nothing, heh.

But when I got out to where Applejack was, I noticed that... He was there and working with her... My breathing hitched and I honestly think I even felt a little jealous. I flew away from there and decided to fly around until he had finished working and had left the farm. I think he lives with Fluttershy, I'm not that sure though.

I flew around for a bit, training some tricks just to kill the necessary time until he had left. After about five minutes of constant flying, I landed on the branch of a tree to rest for a while. I yawned and closed my eyes. Hay, I had woken up early that morning to work so I deserved to take a quick nap! I think I slept for like, ten minutes or so before a kick rustled the tree I was lying on. I didn't have the time to react, so I just fell to the ground.

When I opened my eyes again, I was first blinded by the sun. The next thing I saw was Applejack shouting something to me. I think it was something about me not being supposed to sleep on her trees. Same 'ol thing as always. The reason why I'm freaking out is because... Well, he was standing there next to AJ... He looked down at me with a concerned frown. I jumped to my hooves and backed away from him, didn't take long until my flank pushed to the tree I had been lying on. AJ asked me if I was okay, but I didn't answer her, I just flew away. I just got home when I started writing this entry. I... I don't know what I should do... I need help with this, I can't do this alone...

This time I got a look at his face, his jaw was chiseled, and his chin looked almost pointy. His hair was almost like a dark, brownish color and it was about shoulder-length? Whatever, his eyes were a hazel color. That was the closest to what I've ever been to him... I don't think I want to be closer than that, no I am pretty sure that I'm at a comfortable distance away from him right now... Yep, living in a cloud house is pretty sweet!

When I think about it, I actually feel a little calmer now after writing this entry. Heh, looks like that egghead know what she's rambling about... I got to thank her for that tip someday...when he's not there, thankyouverymuch. I'm getting pretty tired and hungry, and I'm not usually in a good mood when I'm one of those things, so I'll go and grab something to eat then nap. Next entry will be... Whenever. Until then, remember; AJ gets pissy when you sleep on her trees. Don't do that in the future...

Oh, who am I kidding? I'll do that anyway...

August 23rd

What the hay should I do about this? I have been thinking about that thing and his face even since the incident on the Acres. Not many of them were pleasant, though... I had some bad dreams after that, nightmares. After one of those nightmares I could barely fall back asleep again. Those dreams are something like I have never experienced before when it comes to dreams. I usually dream about flying with the Wonderbolts in the Cloudsdale Arena. But these dreams...

They often start with me walking around in Ponyville at night, minding my own business. After a while I can start hearing weird sounds, only to see the human walk out of the shadows with a creepy grin. After that, I run. I run as fast as my legs can carry me. But somehow, he still manages to keep up with me, no matter how fast I run. If I attempt to fly away, my wings won't flap or they just disappear. But when he does catch me, he throws me onto my back, still with the same creepy grin. I know that his eyes are hazel, but in my dreams they are a hellish glowing red. I usually wake up after the chase when he starts gloating.

The dreams are starting to affect my life, as I get barely any sleep at all. Probably just about 2, maybe 3 hours of sleep a night. That doesn't really help my mood very much, as I become easily annoyed and distracted... I still work, but it's not exactly an easy task when I am so tired. I try though, and refuse to let it distract me from my work. My boss asked me what's up, but I just said that I had a rough nights' sleep. I can't say that forever, and I'm pretty sure my friends are starting to worry about me.

I have told Twilight about them, so we talked about them for an hour or two. She told me to take a break from working as long as I still have the nightmares, but heck no, I need the bits from my work to keep everything rolling! I told her that, but she still seemed to be pretty unamused about it. She told me that I risked my well-being if I worked with so little sleep, but I think that was a little hypocritical... She stays up pretty much all night studying and still work during the day, after all... whatever. Her problem.

I guess I should do what she suggested and take the day off tomorrow, in order for me to try and relax and relieve my mind of the stuff that's going on. No point in not trying, right? Twilight has been pretty spot-on with everything about this so far, so the best thing I can do is to continue and listen to her and try to do what she tells me.

Yeah, this should be just fine... I just have to stop thinking about the human for now. I'll just ignore what he does, and with whom he does stuff. Maybe if I don't care, I won't be as afraid? Well, here's to hoping, I guess...

Oh Celestia, I'm gonna need more help than this... Maybe I should go and visit a real psychiatrist? Sure, Twilight knows what she's doing and I trust her, but... Maybe I could talk to somepony who's a professional? I'll look into that later, but I have to try and get some sleep again.

Nightmares, here I come...

Facing Fears (September)

A/N: Really short chapter, beneath a thousand words. I apologize for that. I have been feeling under the weather so I couldn't get myself to write that much. Next chapter will have more content. Now in other news regarding this story, I think about writing a HiE story starring the human in this story, but from his PoV. Should make the story behind her phobia much more clear. Unedited.

September 2nd

This stupid thing is really getting on my nerves... I feel... Angry about everything which is going on. I’m angry, but not angry with somepony. More like, somehuman or whatever the heck they say. But I’m also kinda mad at myself, y’know?

I mean, I am usually not acting like a scared pansy! I even charge some monsters head on, because I basically know what they can do against me. Almost all monsters and animals have some kind of known weakness I can use for my own benefit! But that human guy is different...

He’s literally one of a kind, as he’s the only known human in Equestria. And that makes his abilities pretty much unknown... I hate not knowing those things... So far all I know is that he probably has some strength, when he use his arms for so many things. I’ll have to find out more about him and what he can do, but that means that I’ll have to get closer to him... Not looking forward to that one... But if I have to, I’ll do it just to get it over with.

In other news, the nightmares just kind of... Stopped. I’m not complaining about it, it just feels strange but I’m also relieved. I also got back to work after taking three days off. My boss didn’t question it, he was actually relieved that I took some time for myself. However, I gotta get some sleep for tomorrow. Going to Cloudsdale with Fluttershy. So... Yeah... That's it for now.

September 3rd

The day started surprisingly good, actually. Fluttershy and I met up in town, as the... Human had insisted on watching her animals when she were out of town for the day. Dunno why 'Shy would trust that guy with her animals. They're practically her babies or something... Kinda creepy when I think about it, actually. Well anyway, we flew off to Cloudsdale after meeting up. It wasn't a long flight and we didn't hurry to get there.

When we were there, we did the usual; Fluttershy wanted to go and look at some fru-fru stores and I wanted to do almost anything else than that. But whatever, we did that so it would be fair to both of us. I found some polish for Tank's shell too. Gonna try it on the big guy later.

It was around seven, I think when we came back Ponyville. We had dinner at some diner on the outskirts of Cloudsdale. The waiter wouldn't stop looking at us with a weird smirk when he took our orders. Hay, I don't care, I just wanted to eat. After a while of eating, Fluttershy started talking about the human.

I told her that I didn't want to talk about it, but she nagged on about wanting to know about what was so wrong with Jay. I guess that it's his name 'cause she said it every time she mentioned him. So... I told her about my fear for him, but I made her Pinkie Promise first. Gotta be sure she doesn't tell anypony or human, for that matter.

As expected, she didn't say much more than 'oh my' a few times during my explanation. I facehoofed after that. I mean, It's Fluttershy. Of course she would react like that or something similar to it. When we had finished eating, we flew back to Ponyville. This time I followed her to her house and dropped her off there. I think I saw his face when I landed outside. A white ball of fluff smacked against his head and he fell backward. I have to give that bunny an extra carrot some time...

I said goodbye to Flutters and flew off, but I got a little curious and hid myself on a cloud a bit away from her cottage. I could still see everything which was going on down there. Everything... When Jay opened the door, he knelt down to her level. And... Ew. Fluttershy hugged him and then uh... Then she gave him a peck on the cheek.

I felt like my dinner was about to come up again, but I flew off while covering my mouth with my right hoof. I did not feel like vomiting while flying... Lucky for me was that my home wasn't very far away from her cottage. As soon as I came through the door, I took a long shower. I have just dried myself off when I'm writing this in the journal. I honestly don't know what to think right now, besides 'ew' and 'gross'.

That's it. I will look for some therapist or something tomorrow so I can really talk to somepony that I know can't talk about it to somepony else. Maybe there's a therapist somewhere at the Ponyville general hospital? Eh, I'll look further into that tomorrow. I'm spent, so I'm gonna go and get some sleep. Maybe I'll write something tomorrow if I can find somepony to talk to? I mean, there has to be somepony I can talk to about this! Twilight's good but... I think I'm gonna need somepony with a license or something. Maybe I'll even bring this journal?

Oh man, now I'm getting nervous about going there... What if the therapist laugh at me? What if he does tell somepony else about this? Okay, I have to calm down... A licensed therapist has to be bound by some law which forbid them about telling other ponies about it, right? I can probably ask some more questions then, but... Oh horseapples... Why me?

Just why...

Heh, the rapist...

...Oh wait...

Therapy

(Switch from the journal-style to regular first-person pony.)

My wings twitched nervously as I walked into the room some mare had told me to enter. The room was warm, and the walls were lined with tons of different bookcases. I'm... pretty sure Twi would have a heartattack if she'd come here.

Anyway, in the corner of the room I saw a brown stallion with a messy, but somehow still slicked-back lighter brown mane tinkering with what looked like some kind of hour-glass. He was wearing a simple green tie around his neck. He turned around to me with a gentle smile. If anything, it actually calmed my nerves a bit...

”You must be Rainbow Dash!” He said in a happy trottingham accent. ”I've heard a lot of you from my daughters, one of those things is that you are an aspiring Wonderbolt, yes?” I nodded. I couldn't stop myself from puffing out my chest in pride. ”Now now, let us not get ahead of ourselves, hm? From what I know, you say you have been having nightmares about our recent addition to our quiant little town, am I correct?”

”Yeah... But not just nightmares...” I said. He pointed me over to some weird couch. I laid down on it and sighed. ”I get scared around him... I don't know why, but I feel... I dunno, I guess I feel helpless around him. I mean, he's pretty tall and all!”

”Aha, so, do you fear other species as well? Like diamond dogs, griffins or dragons?” He wrote in a small notepad. ”Is there a trigger for your fears or nightmares? Any childhood traumas or such?”

”No, I'm not scared of other species. One of my best friends back in flight camp was a griffon, and one of my friends is a dragon...” I rubbed the my neck with my right foreleg.

”I presume that you haven't made any direct attempts to confront him yet?” I shook my head wordlessly. He nodded, and scribbled some notes. ”I believe that you might have fears for what you do not know how to respond to. Other species are natural to our world, when he is probably the only human to exist in Equestria. It doesn't help that he's quite secretive and a troublemaker, though...” He muttered.

”Troublemaker?”

”Oh yes, he and Spike have caused quite a few situations these last weeks. Last I heard was that they were arrested by the Royal Guard for disturbing the peace!” He chuckled ”He's a bit of a bad influence on the little dragon, though...”

”Listen, to change the subject, Twilight Sparkle told me to write a journal on my own 'personal experiences' about this...” I spread my left wing, dropping the journal on the couch next to me. ”She said that I should bring it with me to you...”

”That was a brilliant idea!” He beamed. ”I'll read through it when I have some time off so I can see some more of your personal thoughts on the matter at hoof.” He stood up and grabbed the journal with a free hoof and laid it on his desk. ”I should have prepared a basic analysis for our next meeting. So, what do you say about cutting this meeting short and ending it now? We have a point from where we can begin, anyway.”

”Yeah, sure... Thanks uh..?”

”You can call me Time Turner, or just doc.” He nodded with a small smile. ”Now, how about we have our next meeting this Friday, same time?”

”Sure doc.” I stood up and stretched my wings. ”Thanks for having me.” He gave me another gentle smile and a nod in acknowledgment. I walked out of his office, then out of the building. It was the normal afternoon calm in the town which couldn't actually be found somewhere else. I spread my wings and shot up into the air. It didn't take long for me to find a perfect cloud to relax on.

I yawned and laid down on my stomach, lazily looking down over the edge of the cloud down at the village below. I saw Pinkie bounce around the Sugarcube Corner and as if she had eyes on top of her head, she looked up at me and waved. I rolled my eyes and waved back to her and eventually, she hopped away to complete whatever it is she was doing...

”SHIIIIIII-”

I jumped as I heard a scream. I hovered away from the cloud to see the human, with Spike clinging onto his neck for his dear life being chased by a raging Twilight Sparkle. He was holding a parchment of some sort, and Twilight's horn started glowing. The human was lifted up in the air by her magic, but he was still running. He tried to run even faster as he was levitated into the library and Twilight slammed the door shut behind them.

”Well... How about that...”

I shrugged, then flew back to the cloud I was occupying and laid down to take a quick nap. I could focus on that later, as I was really sleepy right now. But before I fell asleep, I heard a girly shriek coming from what I assumed to be the library. I chuckled sadistically, then closed my eyes to rest.

Author's Notes:

AAAAAAAH I AM SO LATE I AM SO LATE I AM SO LATE SORRY SORRY

Uh... I have been debating with myself about which direction I should take this, and I didn't get the idea through my thick head until now... Anyway, I have started writing the human PoV story, which will be titled 'Bad Company'. It will be almost like an indirect sequel to a one-shot I wrote a few weeks back, this one to be exact.

Now, I'll be off to dodge flying bricks and rotten fruits for making you wait so long for it.

Also, short chapter is short...

Sidestory

It's about time I got around to writing this, I know... But here it is! I will start it off slowly, but it will come into play with this story soon enough.

That story is in the perspective of the human in this story, so if you want to know how Dashie established her fear for him, read that to get a clear picture of what's going on!

The Catalyst

Author's Notes:

Wowee.

Five years, huh? Who'd a thunkit that I'd come back to this here story? Anyway, this chapter covers what happened to start the events of this story in full. It's more like a flashback, really to begin with.

People who have read Bad Company might know what event I'm referring to. After this, they are divided universes. The aftermath of this event is what divided them into AUs.

Also let me know if I screwed the pooch on characterization, which I do blow at.

So... His name is Jay and he actually got a house of his own in Ponyville now. Fluttershy filled me on some details. Apparently he's around three years older than us and was even able to weasel out some bits from Twilight to go to Canterlot with Spike. Heck, I'm not sure why Twilight would let Spike go with him.

Anything could happen!

What if Spike would get hurt?! Or what if the human would try to eat him when they were alone?!

My ears perked when I heard some commotion on the ground. I rolled over on the cloud I was lying on and spotted him walk toward the library with Spike beside him. My eyes narrowed and I moved closer slowly.

“How did the meeting with Mayor Mare go, Jay?” Spike looked up at the human.

He shrugged. “It went alright, I guess...” He scratched the back of his head then put his hands in his pockets.

Why does he need to wear all those clothes? Is he hiding something?

“Turns out most of the damage I caused was superficial and an increase in ponies asking for more security... To be honest, it could have been way worse than what it was...” They entered the library and closed the doors behind them.

I frowned and looked away until my eyes settled on a stray stormcloud that had been missed during clearing. Smirking, I flew toward it and settled down to wait...

Doctor Hooves raised an eyebrow. “You... Fetched a stormcloud.” He stopped writing and chewed on his lower lip. “And as far as I know, he wears those clothes all the time because he doesn't have any fur to protect him from cold.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and shot a glare to the doctor. “Hey, I was talking about it!” She sighed.

“I'm sorry, I had to interject to be sure that I had heard the right thing...” He resumed writing, rolling his eyes at the flippant attitude of the mare. “But for your information, Jay apparently doesn't eat meat that much, only to get some extra proteins and nutrients.”

“Whatever... As I was saying...

I carefully sat down on the stormcloud to not disturb it and get zapped. After a couple of minutes I heard the door open again and the human walked out with Spike in tow again. Jay sat down on the steps to the library and Spike mimicked him.

Jay brought out a small slip of paper and hoofed it over to Spike who's eyes widened significantly.

“A hundred thousand bits?!” Spike yelled.

“Yup...” Jay was resting his head on one of his talons and looking around the street.

“That is a lot of money, dude...” Spike rubbed his face.

I started moving closer on the cloud, making sure that it was ready to let out a bolt. I peeked through it and saw that Jay was staring up at me with his eyes narrowed slightly. They continued talking but I stopped listening as I was in position. I stuck out my tongue in concentration, then hit the cloud with both of my forelegs at the same time.

The usual bang and a flash of light appeared. I peeked over the edge and frowned. Jay had moved from where he was and was staring at the scorchmark in horror.

“GAH FUCK!”

So much for being a big scary human. I'll show you... I readied to let loose another bolt. There wasn't much juice left in the cloud but definitely enough for one more. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my eye and my head rocked back. A stone fell to the ground beneath me. I growled and let loose another shot.

Another bang and lightshow. I looked over the edge to see Jay standing perfectly still, staring up at me with wide eyes and his mouth open. He started rocking back and forth until his eyes rolled back and he fell flat on his back. I smelled something burning but didn't care as I had gotten him good! He got so scared he passed out! What a pansy... Or, you know. That's what I thought happened...

Doctor Hooves' eyes narrowed.

“You do realize that this counts as a felony, right?” He asked. “Unlawful use of lightning with the intent to hurt someone else.” Hooves shook his head. “You're lucky nopony pressed charges on you...”

“I know!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, turning to stare at him. “I didn't think it would knock him out like that but...” This time the look in her eyes changed to what could best be described as...

Fear.

I cleared what was left of the stormcloud and left the library, flying off to the park to relax for a while. A couple of hours of nothing later, I flew over to the market to pick up some groceries before they closed. I saw AJ's applestand at the usual spot and flew over. Applejack turned to me and her eyes widened when she saw my bruised eye.

“Geez, Rainbow! What happened to yer eye?!”

I smirked and flipped my mane so it was more visible. “Oh nothing big, AJ...” I ran a hoof through my mane to set it right. “I just got clocked in the eye by that stinkin' human!” I puffed out my chest. AJ's eyes flicked to something behind me for a split second.

“I got him good with a bolt of lightning though! You should have seen that pansy!” I snickered. “He got so scared that he fell over!”

I heard a crack behind me and Applejack's eyes widened further as I heard heavy hoofsteps behind me. Her jaw dropped. “Yeah!” I laughed. “He looked exactly like that!” I wiped my face with a foreleg. “Priceless...”

I heard a whistle from behind and I turned around and my heart dropped.

Jay stood there, looking like a corpse and glaring nothing but daggers at me. Before I could react, he reared back and hit me as hard as he could on my eye that wasn't bruised. I grunted in pain and reared back slightly, only to be pushed down on my back.

My wings flared out on instinct. I looked over to my left wing and saw him step down on it, ground it and shift his weight to that leg before crouching down.

I gasped out in pain. My right wing flapped slowly to get some leverage but stopped when he leaned over me with a glare.

“Matching pairs now, shithead...” He growled out. He glanced behind for a second then turned back to me, staring absolute death down at me.

The eyes... It's like there wasn't any color in them. Only hatred. His skin was much paler than what it was before and he had dark rings underneath his eyes. He was gritting his teeth so I could see his canine teeth.

“Nice to see that you're already out bragging about nearly killing me back there...” He spat.

What... How?

“Killing..?” I croaked. I didn't mean for that to happen. His eyes narrowed and he rolled his shoulder, looking as if he was ready to slug myself again.

“Thaaaat's right.” He grinned. “Cardiac arrest, half the skin on my left arm burned off. If Twilight didn't know how to do CPR I would be dead right now.”

No. Nonono. I didn't mean to do that. My wings seized up.

He was dragged off me by Twilight who was staring down at me with an expression I couldn't make out. Was it... Disappointment? Anger? Hay if I know...

“Isn't that right, Twilight? Let little miss murder know the truth...”

Twilight's eyes darted between Jay and I, then to Applejack who was glaring at me as I struggled to get on my hooves taking this in. Twilight sighed. “It's true... Human bodies can't handle electricity as good as ponies. His heart stopped after the shock...”

My eyes flicked madly back and forth to Twilight, then to Jay and even to Fluttershy who was shaking her head at me and looking away. I heard a buzzing in my ears that got louder by the second.

“If it wasn't for me and Fluttershy, he would be dead right now.”

It was as if my head had just been dunked in ice cold water. I stared up at Jay only to see him smirking at me as I was taking all of this in.

Then the whispering started.

“Did Rainbow really do that?”

“Can't believe it... But look at his arm...”

“I know she's not the most rational pony around but attempting to kill somepony..?”

My wings started twitching more by each second. I couldn't take it anymore and flew off, leaving everypony in the dust. My left wing hurt but it wasn't anything new. I flew home and just slumped down on the couch, nursing my wing and thinking about what happened.

“Huh... So that's what happened to his arm...” Doctor Hooves mumbled, then cleared his throat. “And this is where your fear from him came?”

Rainbow nodded with her forelegs covering her face, staying quiet.

“I see...” He wrote down a few things then turned back to her. “What would you say set off your fear like this?”

It was perfectly quiet for a few seconds until she sighed. “The way he stared me down. He didn't flinch when he was beating me. He even gloated and smirked at me, for Celestia's sake!” She exclaimed, throwing her hooves up. “But also...” Her ears lowered. “My friends... They were just staring at it happening and didn't do anything. Twilight did something eventually but...”

“There wasn't much loyalty, and you represent that element...” He tapped his pen to his chin.

“Yeah... And that got me thinking, is he driving them apart from me..? Is it all on me?” She started shaking. “Did I fail..? I know I messed up big but Fluttershy will barely talk to me now and she's my oldest friend since we were kids...”

“A fear of failure...” Hooves said, looking up at the clock. “I'm sorry, looks like our time is up for today. I can give you some extra time later after my next appointment?” Rainbow shook her head and stood up from the couch, spreading her wings. “Well then, I'll see you next week?”

“Sure...” Rainbow sighed and turned to the door.

“Miss Dash?” She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “Try doing something you normally wouldn't do to handle stress or fear as both are linked in a manner. Take your time and repeat those steps and talk to your friends about it and how you feel.”

“Sure, doc...” Rainbow offered him a weak smile and left the room. “See you next week...”

Solitude

Author's Notes:

I know it was a long break between updates now but to be fair, between these updates I have got out fifteen updates for Bad Company. And since that story is nearly finished now, this story will be my main priority.

I also went back in the chapters of this story and changed the formatting to be easier to read.

What the heck did he mean with 'do something else to deal with stress'? I furrowed my eyebrows in thought as I tapped a hoof to my chin. I rolled over on the cloud I was lying on and put my forelegs beneath my head.

I mean, my normal response to those things are to go head-on but I... don't want to do that with him. Not that I wouldn't but the shiners I got on my face are proof that the human won't take too kindly to that sort of stuff... I sighed and stood up on the cloud, ruffled my wings and took off over the town. I need to find out what he meant with that but I'm banging my head against a wall here, I'm gonna need a second opinion on this stuff.

I glanced down and saw the library. I shivered involuntarily and decided not to head to Twilight's. I'm not in the mood for a lecture and she would probably go off on psychology rant or something like that once I ask her about it. With a beat of my wings, my speed went up as I soared over the town. In the distance, I saw the path leading to Fluttershy's house and chewed on my lower lip.

Fluttershy and I go way back, I don't want that to be ruined because I screwed up something really bad. With my mind set, I turned slightly and headed straight to her house. I landed just next to the steps and walked to the door. I raised a hoof to knock but stopped.

Why am I here? The look she gave me after I got beaten by Jay is something I'll never forget. I've known her for years and I've never seen her so disappointed at anything. My ears lowered and I turned around to leave and spread my wings. My ears flicked as the door opened behind me.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy called out. I turned around to face her and smiled. She tilted her head a little to the left. “Are you okay? I saw you come here but you didn't knock?”

I let out a nervous laugh and waved a hoof. “I'm okay, I just thought you were busy doing your, ah... Animal stuff that you do.”

“No, I finished that earlier today.” She walked closer to me. “Are you sure that you're okay? You look... Nervous.” She gasped. “Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to prod...”

I chuckled at her timidness and walked forward. “I'm fine, I promise! I just wasn't sure if you were here to begin with.”

“Want to come inside? I can make some tea, if you're not busy...” She mumbled out the last part. I bit my lip and steeled myself.

“Yeah sure, why not?” I walked past her and into the kitchen. She closed the door and joined me. Everything looked like it normally did in her house, it was spotless with a couple of animals here and there doing their business.

“Sorry for the mess, I wasn't expecting company today...” She flew over to a kettle and filled it with water, then placed it on the stove.

...What mess, exactly? I can't see anything out of order but I'm gonna have to chalk it down to Fluttershy being herself. So, how do I bring up what I was thinking of earlier? I can't go straight in and just put everything on the table without softening her up a little first. My eyes widened a little as I thought of a slight misstep in my plan.

Fluttershy is like a yellow ball of stress and fear sometimes.

“So, what's on your mind Rainbow?” She turned to me. “You have that look on your face when you're thinking of something really hard.”

I chuckled. “What do you mean, Flutters? I'm not thinking about something special, I just wanted to come over and see my pal!”

“It's about Jay, isn't it?”

My wings shot open and I tensed. My eyes locked on to hers and I sighed, making my wings droop down and I lowered my head. “Well, yeah...”

“What about him? Is it about what happened?” She asked while walking closer to me. I took a step back when she got closer.

“It's not all about him, it's about you and me...” I shook my head and looked up at her and steeled myself. “I know I screwed up, like really bad. But... Sure, getting beat by him hurt but it felt worse after it.”

She tilted her head again. “What do you mean?”

“I... I saw how disappointed everyone was, I realized that I messed up but everypony was talking, everypony was judging me as if I'm some kinda villain, y'know? The worst part for me was that look I got from you, AJ and Twilight.”

I continued ranting. “Everypony was so disappointed in me, but nopony stepped in when I was getting beat.” I felt my legs starting to quiver. “I'm loyalty, right? At that point I had none of it. And... it hurt.” My voice cracked at the last word.

Fluttershy didn't say anything, she just walked closer to me and pulled me in for a hug. “I'm sorry, Rainbow... I didn't know that you felt like this, none of us did. You never said anything about it.” She separated from me and I quickly wiped my face with a hoof.

“I know I can't excuse what I did, but whenever I see him I get this feeling that there's something wrong. It sounds weird when I say it but... I'm not sure what to do at this point.” I kicked with my left foreleg and Fluttershy guided me toward her table. I sat down on a chair while she got the kettle off the stove and retrieved two cups.

“I have been talking to a guy and he said that I should do something that I normally don't do when this happens and I have no idea what he meant...” I shrugged and stared down at the table.

Fluttershy hummed whilst filling the cups with the hot water before fetching a bag of leaves. “I think that he meant that instead of going gung-ho and in his face, why won't you just attempt to talk with Jay?”

My wings locked up again and I bit my lip. “I... don't think that's a good idea, Fluttershy.”

“Why not?” She frowned. “He's not as mean as he looks and I think you can have several things in common.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before letting it out. “Because I'm scared of him.”

Fluttershy stopped immediately in her tracks and looked up at me. “What?”

“I said it's because I'm scared of him, he's just so big and has that look in his face that's as if he won't hesitate to start swinging against anything.”

“But... You went up to a dragon and picked a fight with it.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, because dragons are from here! He's not! For all I know, he could have some super-laser-death-eyes or something!”

Fluttershy slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, he might not have super-laser-death-eyes...” I sighed. “He's not from our world, I don't know what he can do and it... scares me, it also makes me worried about everypony else if he has some alien take-over plan.”

“If he had ...super-laser-death-eyes, don't you think he would have used them already?” Fluttershy asked. “I don't think he has an alien take-over plan as well, everything he does is kind of touch-and-go. He's very impulsive... Like somepony else I know...” She added quietly.

“Fluttershy, you're the pony I've known for the longest beside from my parents.” I said, nearly pleading with her. “I need help and I don't know who to ask, I see that therapist guy only once a week and I'm not sure he's helping a lot...”

Fluttershy nodded. “I'm not sure how I can help you, but I'll figure out something.”

“What do you do when you're scared but have to keep going anyway?” I asked as I took a sip of my tea.

“Well... I just think of doing it for everypony else, that's it.” She said with a shrug.

I downed the rest of my tea and stood up from my seat, thanking her for it. “I gotta go and set up some weather scheduling, thanks for the help...” I walked to the door and Fluttershy just stared at me as I walked to the door.

“Don't mention it, I don't think I was that helpful...” She muttered.

“You were, I got to say what I needed to. I'll go and think of something to deal with this. I opened the door and walked out, still looking at her with a smile.

“Oomph!” I walked into something rough and took a step back to shake my head. “So...” I looked up and saw blue jeans. My eyes widened and I craned my head up until I was staring into the eyes of Jay. “...rry...”

He stared down at me with a raised brow and crossed arms, a smirk on his face. “Well, this got interesting.”