Fluttershy and Rarity sat in the Ponyville Spa, idly chatting back and forth as they sat in the sauna, taking in the warm, luxurious steam all around them. For the two mares, this activity was nothing more than routine by this point, and it proved to be a more than effective tool for them to get away from the insanity of the past few weeks. It allowed them a way to vent their frustrations for a time, with both of them able to relate to one another in their respective problems, most of which revolved around Josh, Vinyl, Filthy Rich, or any combination of the three. No matter how bad things may have seemed to be on the outside at any one time, they always left the spa with higher hopes than when they'd gone in. At least, they had before the events of the trial.

That week, they'd skipped their usual appointment, with neither pony emotionally capable of really going out into the once loving town they'd called home. While Rarity was dealing with the loss in her own way, Fluttershy had merely done what she was so used to herself, which included only leaving her home for the most dire of emergencies and spending most of her day curled up and crying. After some time, she'd actually managed to work up the courage to venture out for more than a few minutes, and had begun to go into town to visit with Vinyl or Octavia. Eventually, she began to check up on her other friends, in particular Rarity and Twilight after she'd heard about the falling out Sweetie Belle had had with her sister. The yellow pegasus had been extremely surprised to see Rarity on her front doorstep that morning, telling her that Sweetie had come back home and that as a celebration, she'd arranged an appointment for the two of them to return to the spa for a day of relaxing.

"So, everything's alright with you and Sweetie Belle now?" Fluttershy asked, watching as Aloe ladled some more water onto the coals in the furnace, causing a large plume of steam to rise upwards.

"For the most part, yes." Rarity said, "She's still upset with what mother and father said to her, but she's at least home, where I can take care of her properly this time."

"Well... In all fairness, you were really close to Josh too." Fluttershy replied, readjusting the towel on her head to keep it from drooping over, "You were just dealing with his loss in your own way."

"That's true, but hardly an excuse on my part." Rarity said, frowning slightly at the thought of her actions, "I didn't even consider Sweetie Belle's feelings in all this. But, I promised her that I'll never make that mistake again, and that she'll always be a top priority for me, no matter what."

"I'm glad to know you two are alright again." Fluttershy said happily, a small smile gracing her face, "You have no idea how worried I was about you both. The last thing you need after losing a friend is to lose a sister too."

"Believe me, darling, I was worried I'd lose her as well." Rarity responded, looking off into the distance, "But, thank Celestia for Twilight being there for us like that."

Fluttershy nodded and the two friends sat in a rather comfortable silence for some time, enjoying the feeling of the steam and heat as Aloe continued to pour several more spoonfuls of water onto the coals. After about ten more minutes in the sauna, Lotus came in and told them that it was now time for their hooficures, to which both ponies immediately jumped up and made their way into the large bath area, taking their places on the massage tables nearby to allow Aloe and Lotus to do their work. Together, Fluttershy and Rarity indulged in their respective hooficures while continuing to chat back and forth, Rarity about her sister and plans she had for the two of them, Fluttershy about her animals and how they'd been getting along.

"Angel was pretty upset with me when I didn't fluff his tail this last time." she said as Aloe continued to file at her left hoof, "I decided to make it up to him by doing it three times this next week."

"You really do love to pamper that bunny, don't you dear?" Rarity asked, doing her best to hold her head still while Lotus began to file away at her horn.

"Well... sort of." Fluttershy replied, blushing a little, "He just really likes having it done, and I'm not just going to say no to him when it comes to something simple like that."

"Do you ever say no to him on anything?"

Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but promptly closed it, unable to find any words she could say to defend herself on that point. Rarity just giggled quietly as she watched her pegasus friend lose her ability to speak.

"Honestly, Fluttershy. You can't allow him to get away with so much." Rarity said, "Otherwise, he may develop a bad attitude when he doesn't get his way."

"What about Opal?" Fluttershy asked, squirming a little in her seat as Aloe began on her lower hooves, "You spoil her all the time."

"Opal was... high maintenance when I got her." Rarity replied, her thoughts trailing back to her cat, "It's almost impossible to please her sometimes. Thank Celestia cats are somewhat self-sufficient animals. Well... cats that aren't Opal are, at least."

Fluttershy took her turn to giggle now as Rarity began to frown a little at the thought of her pet. At that moment, Vera, the third member of the spa staff, rushed in and told Aloe and Lotus that another customer had arrived, to which the two sisters set down their tools and apologized to Fluttershy and Rarity, saying they'd be back to finish off their hooficures before too long.

"Not a problem, girls." Rarity said, waving them away with a hoof, "We'll be here when you get back."

Together, the three spa ponies made their way out the door and into the main lobby where they greeted their guest. Rarity looked to Fluttershy, who stared back at her with her usual soft look.

"So, you've heard about what happened with Vinyl, I presume?" Rarity began, looking towards the door to ensure that nopony was there.

"Something happened with Vinyl?" Fluttershy asked, looking all around the room herself.

"Yes. Twilight was telling me about it." Rarity continued, "Apparently, Octavia came to her and said that Vinyl had been admitted to the hospital three nights ago, and that she was on suicide watch."

"On what?!" Fluttershy yelped, quickly covering mouth.

Rarity's eyes grew wide with panic and she glanced back towards the door. When nopony came through after several seconds she let out a sigh of relief and glanced back to Fluttershy, who gave her a big toothy grin of apology.

"You must be careful about that, dear." Rarity said, "I know that it is a startling thing to find out about, but we mustn't draw any more attention to ourselves than is absolutely necessary. We don't truly know who we can trust in this town."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement before speaking once again in a whisper.

"So... she... tried to..."

"Unfortunately." Rarity said, nodding slowly, a sullen expression falling over her face, "Apparently, the poor girl got farther down than we thought, and attempted to take a... rather drastic measure."

"She's alright now though, isn't she?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, she's not trying to do anything more to herself at least." Rarity said, her ears flattening a little as she spoke, "However, the doctor's did have a rather startling bit of news for her."

"Oh my... There isn’t anything else wrong with her, is there?" Fluttershy asked in a somewhat loud, panicked tone.

Rarity opened her mouth to respond but stopped as soon as she heard other voices coming closer from beyond the doorway.

"Please, make your way in here, and we'll get everything started for you Miss Blossom." said Lotus, standing in the door and gesturing for another pony to enter.

Fluttershy and Rarity glanced towards the door just in time to see a mare with a bright pink coat and long green mane enter and make her way over to them.

"Oh. Hello there, Fluttershy, Rarity." Rose Blossom said, raising her eyebrows a little, "I wasn't expecting to see you two here."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Rarity asked, glaring daggers at the pink mare.

"Nothing more than what I said." Rose Blossom replied, walking over and standing in front of Rarity's seat, "And there's no need to be hostile towards me. I haven't done anything to you."

"That's where you're wrong." Rarity spat, fighting the urge to stand up and get in Rose Blossom's face, "We lost our best friend because of hateful ponies like you. For you to say that you're innocent in any way is a complete and total lie."

"It's hardly my fault that you made friends with the wrong individuals." Rose Blossom retorted, leering at the alabaster unicorn, "You may have been blinded by your so called 'generosity', but the rest of us eventually saw him for what he really was."

"How dare you!" Rarity shot back, now off the table and beginning to advance on Rose Blossom "You and everypony else here had absolutely no clue as to who he was! You all got so caught up in your own paranoia and ignorance that you allowed it to cloud your minds."

"Did we, Rarity? Did we?!" Rose Blossom said, not backing down from Rarity as the unicorn approached her, "You knew long before the rest of us what he was, what he'd done before coming here. Had you known the truth when he first arrived here, I doubt you'd have been so forgiving and willing to give him a chance like you did."

"That's hardly relevant!" Rarity shouted, "So what if I didn't know right away? I didn't need to in order to know that he could be a good person!"

"And what if he'd done something to Sweetie Belle, Rarity?"

"Never! Josh would never do anything to my little sister!" Rarity was now beginning to scream at Rose Blossom, "You would dare to insinuate that he'd do something malicious to her?! Not once did he ever even think of hurting her! Perhaps he should have done something to hurt you!"

"And who's to say he wouldn't have?" Rose Blossom returned, now beginning her advance on Rarity, "You may have your head stuck so far up your own plot that you can't see clearly, but I don't! You call yourself a good judge of character, but you couldn't tell the difference between a bunny and Discord himself. Just because you felt it was alright to put your own little sister in harms way with that... monster, it doesn't mean that I'd be so quick to make the same mistake with my son. You're a fool, Rarity. You and everypony who was so quick to accept him as one of us. You stand there and say that the side I took in this was wrong, but you should be on your knees kissing my hooves for being a part of helping us avoid a potential danger!"

Rarity's face took on a heavily flustered expression, and she began to splutter, unable to find anything to respond with. Rose Blossom smiled at the alabaster mare's inability to say anything.

"Don't bother trying to say anything more." she said, walking away towards the back of the room, "I sincerely hope that one day you'll take off your rose colored glasses and allow yourself to see the truth."

Rarity sat down with her mouth agape as Rose Blossom walked away, unable to believe what she'd just heard. Rose Blossom continued her self-righteous sauntering over to the satin curtain dividing the spa, looking back towards the flustered mare she had managed to make completely speechless with the same pompous grin she'd had before walking away.

"Y-you're the monster."

Rose Blossom's gaze dropped off Rarity and fell upon the pastel yellow pegasus next to her, who was now standing up from her original seated position and was glaring at the pink mare across the room.

"What did you say?" Rose Blossom asked, making her way slowly back over to the pair and focusing her ire on Fluttershy now.

"I said that you're the m-monster." Fluttershy replied, more boldly than she would be normally, "Rarity's right. You judged him before you knew him, and I seem to remember you being just as nice to him as any of us ever were."

"That was before I knew the truth, Fluttershy." Rose Blossom responded flatly.

"And what truth would that be?" Fluttershy asked, her voice rising steadily, "That he made mistakes in his past that he was trying his hardest not to make again? If that's what we're judging everypony for here, then none of us deserve any sort of love or compassion from one another."

Rose Blossom, for the first time since being in the argument, took a step backwards, her mouth slightly agape as she watched the usually demure and shy pegasus pony actually become infuriated.

"And as for him being dangerous, I challenge you to find one single time that he ever laid a hoof on you or your son." Fluttershy said, her eyes locked on Rose Blossom's.

Rose Blossom took her turn to splutter now, unable to find a single thing she could say to Fluttershy as the pegasus stared her down fiercely.

"Nothing?" the yellow pony said, her rage rising ever higher, "That's what I thought."

Rarity looked on much like Rose Blossom, simply staring at Fluttershy as she almost seemed to transform into a ferocious version of her former self.

"You call us fools, but you're nothing more than a hateful, spiteful, two-faced... bitch!" Fluttershy said boldly, practically shouting the last word and causing Rose Blossom to step backwards even more and crouch down, her ears flat against her head, "It's because of ponies like you that we lost one of the greatest friends any of us has ever had, and on top of that, you helped to ruin two completely innocent lives!"

Fluttershy never noticed it, but she had begun to advance on Rose Blossom, causing the pink mare to back herself into a corner and almost begin cowering. Rarity merely watched in awe, unable to believe what her friend was now turning into before her very eyes.

"I hope that your son sees the way you are, how angry and evil you've become, and that he aspires to be nothing like you in the future. I hope that you'll spend the rest of your existence lonely and miserable, that way you can know just what you've done here and how you've made both Josh and Vinyl feel!"

Fluttershy's eyes were wild and locked on Rose Blossom's now trembling form. The adrenaline shooting through her veins made her heartbeat skyrocket and her brain was filled with nothing but a blind rage. All she could do was direct her full fury at the pink pony before her, standing over her and watching her cower under the glare of the inexplicably empowered pegasus mare. Not since taking Iron Will's advice and becoming a rage machine had she ever felt this type of sensation.

"Fluttershy..."

As soon as she heard her name being called from what seemed like a great distance away, her heart rate began to slow, and she returned to her usual state. The pegasus shook her head, bringing herself back to the world of reality and looking back to her friend behind her.

"Rarity," she said angrily, turning around to face the unicorn, “I’m sorry, but I need to go. I just... I can’t stay around anymore."

Rarity sat with her jaw hanging open, her gaze darting back and forth between her friend and the cowering earth pony on the ground. Fluttershy turned around to see Rose Blossom, hunched down and staring up at her with wide, fearful eyes. Fluttershy didn’t take notice of Rose Blossom again as she marched towards the entryway and headed for the door of the shop.

“Miss Fluttershy?” Vera called after the pony, “Aren’t you going to stay and finish your treatment?”

Fluttershy made no effort to respond as she headed for the door. Her mind was still full of too much anger to really comprehend anything other than to get her out of that shop and go back to her home. It wasn’t until she heard Rarity call after her and run up behind her that she actually stopped her forward motion at all.

“Wait!” Rarity called after the yellow pegasus, “Don’t go!”

“I’m sorry, Rarity.” she said firmly, as her friend approached her, her eyes watering heavily, “I just... I can’t deal with all this right now. I’m going home.”

Fluttershy turned around once again and opened the door, stopping once more and looking back around to see Rarity staring at her with hurt in her eyes.

“P-please...” the unicorn stammered, her voice beginning to shake as a tear rolled down her cheek, “Don’t go... It’s over, okay? She’s not going to bother you or I again, I promise.”

“That’s... what I’m afraid of, Rarity.” Fluttershy said sullenly, “I’ll see you later.”

With that, Fluttershy made her way out of the shop, taking to the air and flying across town, back towards her home on the edge of the Everfree Forest. As she flew, she replayed the scene that had just transpired over and over again in her head. She’d always told herself that after the incident with Iron Will and his attempts to make her more assertive, she’d never act out like that ever again. However, she’d dealt with too much in the last few weeks and had experienced so much heartache and pain that all it would take was a single off-hoof comment to make her lose her cool, of which Rose Blossom and Rarity had just experienced the full fury. Fluttershy suddenly felt all her bundled up emotions reach their peak and she found herself unable to hold back her own tears, forcing her to let out sobs of frustration and grief as she soared over the town and back to her home.

Fluttershy dejectedly trudged down the path to Ponyville, her head hung low as she made her way back towards the town. Since leaving the spa after yelling at Rose Blossom, she’d been cooped up in her house all day, crying heavily and doing her best to avoid thinking about the events of the day. This, however, had proven to be nearly impossible, as she kept seeing the earth pony’s scared look whenever she closed her eyes and had continued to relive almost the entire event throughout the day. She’d expected Rarity or somepony else to come by and check on her, but no such thing happened. This felt like a simultaneous blessing and curse, as Fluttershy wished not to be disturbed, but also was worried that her actions may have scared away anypony who might try and help her. Eventually, she rationalized in her own mind that they were just giving her the space she needed, and that nopony was going to abandon her over one outburst.

Though that had done just enough to help her feel a little better, she was still very down. However, she had decided not to go her usual route of completely shutting down and remaining in her home, which had lead her to be walking back towards town in the first place. Normally, she'd have gone to one of her friends and talked to them as a way to help her feel better, but for whatever reason, that wasn't what she was planning on this time. Instead, she was headed towards the town pub, The Frosty Mug, where she would occasionally go if she felt like her friends couldn't help her much in a particular situation. There, even if she didn't talk to anypony else, at least the ever friendly bartender, Frosty Mug, would be there to talk to her and keep her company for awhile.

Upon reaching town, she immediately headed to the left and found the familiar building that was The Frosty Mug Pub. Walking inside, she saw the bar was unusually empty, save for a few older ponies in the corner who were chatting idly, large mugs of cider sitting in front of each of them that they would occasionally sip on before returning to the conversation. Fluttershy looked to the bar and saw its practically iconic unicorn owner walking back and forth, shifting bottles around as he dusted the liquor shelves. Slowly, she approached the bar and jumped up on a seat, silently almost hoping that she wouldn't be noticed as Frosty continued to dust his shelves. As the pegasus took her place, however, Frosty immediately took note of her, a small smile falling across his face.

"Well, hey there, Fluttershy." he said gently, setting down his feather duster and making his way over to the pegasus, "You're one of the last ponies I'd expect to see here."

"I've been feeling... really down today," Fluttershy timidly explained, "and... well... I just thought maybe I'd come down and... at least sit around for awhile, if nothing else."

"Makes sense to me." Frost said, grabbing a glass in his magic as well as a cloth, using it to wipe the interior, "I gladly welcome your company. Is there anything I can get you?"

"Um... I'll just have a soft drink." she said quietly, to which Frosty nodded and turned around, heading back towards the fridge in the corner and opening it up.

Using his magic, he pulled out a bottle filled with a bright pink liquid as well as another glass. He quickly poured the fluid into the glass before returning it to the refrigerator and heading back towards Fluttershy on the other end of the bar.

"Here ya go, sweetheart." he said, setting the glass down before her, "It's strawberry lemonade. Drink up."

Fluttershy thanked Frosty before lifting the glass up to her mouth and taking a sip, feeling the slight sting of the carbonation on her tongue as the ice cold liquid entered her mouth. It was unbelievably refreshing, and helped to ease her mind just a little.

"So," Frosty began, picking up his usual glass swabbing habit, "what's got you so down in the dumps, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy set her glass back down before explaining to Frosty what had happened that day, beginning with she and Rarity spending time together at the spa. At first, she told the story with relative ease, but when she told the barkeep about what she'd done when Rose Blossom began to speak badly about Josh, her emotions from earlier that day threatened to overtake her mind once again. Through the whole story, Frosty just sat quietly and listened, occasionally nodding or giving some other means of acknowledgement of Fluttershy's words. After the pegasus finished by telling him about how she'd gone home and cried, a short but heavy silence fell between the two, punctuated by the continuing chatter of the older ponies on the other end of the bar.

"Well," Frosty began, setting down the one glass he was cleaning and picking up another in his magic, "if you ask me, you were perfectly in the right to do what you did, Fluttershy."

"But, you should never be mean to others," Fluttershy said timidly, "no matter what they may say or do."

"True. But, everypony has their breaking point, and all it takes is for somepony to say one thing, and that can set others off."

"I should just know how to control my temper better, I suppose..."

"No way." Frosty said as Fluttershy took another sip of her drink, "In my personal opinion, I think you should've yelled at her more. I would have."

Fluttershy set her drink down again and gave Frosty a confused look, to which he smirked slightly.

"I can't tell you how many times I worked in here and heard nothing but ponies spreading around that hate speech that Filthy managed to shove into their heads." Frosty continued, now scowling a little, "There they sat, harshly judging a guy they barely knew at all. I'll never understand why it is that they could be so ignorant as to refuse to look past what he'd been like before and see how he was in the here and now."

"What I don't see is how they could turn on him so quickly." Fluttershy said, "Almost everypony here loved him before all this mess. How could Filthy Rich do a thing like this?"

"He's a fantastic speaker." Frosty replied simply, "He was able to instill a sense of fear and paranoia amongst those here, and you'd be surprised how powerful a weapon like that can be."

"But what were they so afraid of?" Fluttershy asked somewhat indignantly, "The only pony I'd ever see him lay a single hand on was Filthy, and he deserved it. Not one time did he ever attack anypony else."

"They weren't so much afraid of what he had or hadn't done in his time." Frosty said, "They were afraid of his potential to be harmful, what he possibly could do."

"But they never could know what he could do!" Fluttershy replied, now scowling herself, "It's nothing more than speculation!"

"That's very true, and as his friends, we understand that concept. However, others who didn't know him like we did will never see it that way. If I were to tell you about the potential for some sort of danger, your number one concern wouldn't be to try and analyze it, I'm sure. You'd try and find the best way to keep yourself safe, and that's what they believed they were doing."

Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but found there was nothing she could say. Frosty was indeed right in his line of thinking. Fluttershy was a pony whose existence seemed to be perpetuated by her own incessant fears, and a lot of her time was spent finding ways to minimize her potential to be in danger. Admittedly, when she'd first met Josh, she was extremely afraid of him because of his size and rather intimidating appearance, but had come to care for the human as time went along and she got to know him better. To a certain degree, she could see why those who weren't as close to him would be wary of him, but in her mind, that still didn't excuse their behavior at all.

"You... you were his friend too, weren't you?" asked Fluttershy, internally wincing as she realized she'd asked something dumb.

"I'd like to think I was." Frosty said, smirking once again, "Admittedly, I wasn't as close to him as some others, but we did have some very engaging conversations whenever he was in here, and I got to know him better through that."

"So, when you found out about his past, you didn't judge him like everypony else?"

"Of course not." Frosty replied, "Then again, I pretty much knew who he was the moment he walked through that door."

Again, the yellow pegasus shot Frosty a confused look.

"How... is that possible?"

"I don't need to speak to somepony to know who they truly are, Fluttershy." Frosty responded, letting out a light chuckle, "I could see it in him from the moment he opened that door and made his way in here. He walked with a type of swagger that indicated just what he thought of himself, but there's something hidden behind that type of attitude that others don't really see."

"Like what?"

"In his particular case... there was a lot of guilt, and a lot of hurt." Frosty said, now looking downwards as he spoke, clearly thinking back on his first encounter with the human, "I didn't know all of that right away, but I was able to infer the truth pretty quickly. You can always tell when somepony has lived a life of regret and loneliness. They just have... a sort of air about them."

Silence fell once more between the two ponies as both contemplated the last words spoken. Then, almost out of nowhere, a voice called from the opposite end of the bar, causing both Frosty and Fluttershy to turn their attention towards the figure.

"Hey, Fffrostyyyyy," the pony slurred, sitting up a little in her seat and hiccuping loudly, "c-can I g-get another gin and carrrot j-juice?"

Fluttershy looked a little closer at the figure seated there, unable to really see them for the shadow that fell over their form. She knew the pony was a mare, a pegasus mare to be more exact, but wasn't completely able to discern who this might be.

"Alright." Frosty said, sighing, "I'll get you one in a second. Just hold tight, Rainbow."

Fluttershy did a double take upon hearing the name of the mare and gasped in shock. Slowly, she climbed down from her seat and made her way towards the drunken pony, staring at her intently as she approached the pony. Eventually, she stood before the other pegasus, her mouth still wide open as she looked the mare up and down one more time, her gaze settling on the polychromatic mane that flowed down her neck.

"R-Rainbow..." she said, reaching a hoof out gently to touch her friend and make sure she was real, "Have... have you been... here the whole time?"

Slowly, drunkenly, the cyan mare turned to look at the pony addressing her, staring into her teal eyes with her own bloodshot, rose colored ones. A smile came across her face as she recognized Fluttershy, and she stumbled off her own stool to attempt to stand and greet her properly.

"Hey there, Fffluttershy." she said, swaying back and forth as she reached out to embrace her friend, fighting to stay upright once she grabbed onto her, "No, I haven't b-been here the whole t-time. I g-go home once they c-close."

Fluttershy's jaw still hung slack as Rainbow Dash stepped away from her, nearly falling over onto her rump. Rainbow's usually untidy mane was even more of a mess, and the fur on her chest was matted and slightly stained from where she'd spilled some of her drinks. She peered at her yellow friend with half lidded eyes, both of which seemed like they would close at any second and force the mare to pass out.

"How long have you been doing this?" Fluttershy asked, watching as Rainbow struggled to climb back up onto her stool, "Are you in here every day?"

"Uh... I like to come in here and g-get something to drink once in awhile." Rainbow slurred, finally able to return to her seated position and right herself for the time being, "Then, I get another... and another, and... well, I th-think you get it."

Fluttershy continued to stare at her friend as she turned back towards the bar and took a swig of her new drink, letting out a little hiss as the alcohol made its way down her throat. Neither pony said anything for some time, with one too shocked to be able to speak, and the other too inebriated to form much of a coherent sentence anymore. Fluttershy slowly climbed up onto the stool next to Rainbow, not once taking her eyes off the other mare.

"W-why, Rainbow?" she asked suddenly, "Why are you doing this?"

Rainbow didn't respond right away, refusing to look at her friend. Instead, she took one more sip of her drink, fumbling the glass as she brought it to her lips, spilling some down her chest.

"I n-never got to say goodbye to him, Shy." she responded, setting the glass back down, still not looking towards the other pegasus, "None of us did... He just... poof, and he's gone. I always just assumed... that he'd always be here. After all, he loved this place. Why would he ever leave us?"

Rainbow continued to stare at the bar, and as Fluttershy tried to peer around and into Rainbow Dash's face, she noticed a tear beginning to trail down her cheek.

"It's... It's all my fault, Shy." Rainbow said quietly, her voice breaking as she spoke, "I c-could've stopped it... I could've done at least somethin’. But I din't... I... I failed, and now... I'l n-never get to... to say... Ah, screw it... It wouldn't have made any difference anyway."

Rainbow heaved as she began to sob, slouching over the bar and placing her head in her crossed forelegs as she wept. Acting quickly, Fluttershy tenderly wrapped one of her wings around the distraught pegasus, holding her as close as she could. Eventually, Fluttershy herself began to cry, her tears falling from her face and onto Rainbow's shoulder.

"I just... I w-want him to come home!" Rainbow wailed, finally reaching around and embracing Fluttershy, "H-he didn't deverve this! W-why did this have t-to happen to him, to us?"

"Rainbow," Fluttershy said gently, rubbing her friend's back as she held onto her shuddering form, "I know it's not fair, and... I know that you were close to him. But, we can't spend all our time mourning his leaving, and especially not like this."

"So what m’ I supposed to do, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, lifting her head up to stare at the yellow pegasus indignantly, "Jus’ say it's all okay and move on? Maybe that's easy for some ponies’, but they didn't share the sort of bond that I had with him. I know that Vinyl was his marefriend, but me and him were... he was... my best friend!"

"There's nothing wrong with missing him, but you can't turn to alcohol to take the pain away." Fluttershy said firmly, "It's just not healthy. And, besides that, he wouldn't want you to be doing this to yourself."

Rainbow opened and closed her mouth in a vain attempt to respond, but found no words she could say. Instead, she continued her crying, burying her face into Fluttershy's chest once more as the pastel mare continued to comfort her. They sat there for some time, both crying and holding onto one another. Neither one said a single word as they remained there, with both mares knowing that words weren't necessary in this moment.

"Y-yeah, you're right." Rainbow finally said, sniffling.

The colorful mare released her friend, wiping her bleary, bloodshot eyes, "I'm... sorry... that I haven't been there with all of you through this. I just... I din't know what to do."

"It's alright, Rainbow." Fluttershy said, smiling at her drunken friend, "Come on. Let's get you out of here. You can stay at my house tonight so you don't have to try and fly."

Rainbow sniffled and nodded her head, slowly and carefully climbing down from her seat. Fluttershy wrapped her wing around the intoxicated pegasus, helping to steady her as she stood there. The two ponies walked around to the middle of the room before Fluttershy stopped and turned back to face Frosty, who had been watching the two pegasi intently since Fluttershy had walked over to talk with Rainbow.

"How much does she owe you?" Fluttershy asked, walking back up to the bar and preparing to pull out a small bag of bits.

"Hmm?"

"For the drinks. I'll pay you whatever she owes."

Frosty looked back to Rainbow, who was sitting on her rump on the floor, her head hung low and a few tears still trailing from her closed eyes. He stared at her for a few seconds before looking back to Fluttershy and smiling a little.

"She doesn't owe me anything." he said simply.

"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked, "I know she must have used up a lot of your liquor..."

"Fluttershy, she's been through a hard time." Frosty said, setting down the glass he'd been swabbing, "I've seen a lot of ponies who turn to the bottle in bad situations. For those ones, I give them a few drinks to get them by and then see to it that they can move on. She doesn't owe me anything, just the promise of her safety."

Fluttershy smiled back at Frosty, who winked at her a little before turning back to the bar to continue dusting his shelves. The yellow pegasus turned back to her friend, walking over and draping her wing over her once again and helping her stand up. Together, the two pegasi made their way out of the bar and out into the dark Ponyville night, the light of Luna's moon guiding their way. They said very little as they walked, save for Rainbow's occasional remark about the surrounding area and how pretty it looked with the silver light from above playing off each surface.

After a short time, they reached Fluttershy's little earthen cottage, which gave off a soft golden glow from the lights inside. Upon entering, Fluttershy carefully lead Rainbow up the staircase and into her own room, turning on the light and guiding her towards her bed at the head of the room.

"You can take my bed for the night." the demure pegasus said, helping Rainbow up and onto the mattress, "It'll be easier for you to make it to the bathroom should you get sick in the night or something like that."

"What about you?" Rainbow asked, swaying back and forth as she tried to sit up on the bed, "Where're you gonna sleep?"

"The couch downstairs is plenty comfortable for me." Fluttershy said, pulling back the covers for Rainbow to climb under, "I just want to make sure you're alright for the night."

"Ey, c-can't you just give me that same stuff you gave Twilight when Josh and I c-came over with her that one night she got drunk?" Rainbow asked, clumsily sliding under the covers of Fluttershy's bed, "That ought to sober me up."

"I would, but I ran out of the ingredients to make it." Fluttershy said, pulling the blankets up over Dash's body and smiling sweetly at her friend, "Sorry Rainbow, but it looks like you'll just have to wait this one out."

"Oh... well, tanks for helping me out, Shy." Rainbow said, laying her head down on the pillow and giving Fluttershy a drunken smile, "It really does mean a lot to me."

"It's no problem, Rainbow." Fluttershy said, draping her wing over her friend one more time, "Just try and get some sleep and come morning, I'll go out and get you something to help with your hangover."

Rainbow nodded and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep almost instantaneously. Fluttershy carefully shut the door to her bedroom and proceeded back downstairs, taking her place on the couch and curling up tightly. She felt a strange mixture of grief and gratefulness within her as she thought about her sleeping friend upstairs. She'd been unbelievably worried about Rainbow, having not seen her since the end of the trial, but was glad that she had found the polychromatic mare and that she was at least somewhat alright, if not extremely intoxicated at the moment. With at least one of her tensions eased, Fluttershy felt herself begin to drift off into her own world of sleep, but was suddenly interrupted by the sound of thumping nearby.

Looking up, she saw her pet bunny, Angel, standing in front of the couch, tapping his foot with a sour expression on his face.

"Oh, hello there, Angel Bunny." Fluttershy said sweetly, "Did I take your spot on the couch? I'm sorry."

Fluttershy shifted over several inches, allowing enough room for the little white rabbit to jump up and lay down himself. The pegasus smiled at her little pet as he curled up just like her and went to sleep. Fluttershy lay her own head back down and was asleep in mere minutes, her dreams filled with Rainbow Dash and Josh and visions of the two friends spending time together once again, carefree and happy.