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.”