“Oh, Snickers, you’re looking far better than I’d expected,” Rarity greeted Snickers before sunset when he got home with Sweetie Belle, “no offense, mind you, but I honestly believed you would be covered with something when you came home, as is the usual, right, Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked teasingly.

Sweetie walked with Snickers toward the stairs. “Yeah, yeah… I’m clean this time, so there.”

“And just where are you both going?” Rarity asked.

“Quick shower before group tonight, Sweetie’s gotta do homework and when I get back we should have time for supper, then a bit of family time before bed, right?” Snickers said.

Rarity was taken slightly back. “Well, that sure is the well formed schedule you have, isn’t it? Have you been working with Twilight today?”

“Nope, I just like to have things organized. Now that I’m feeling more normal, I think I can have a routine again. One fit for my youth would be best… by the way, I wanna see Twilight tomorrow, I have some math to go over with her.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Oh… very well, then. Group is in over an hour, though. Will you be in there the whole time, or will you be having some fun afterwards?”

Snickers looked back at Rarity. “Mother, she’s my aunt, I won’t be doing anything like that, if I can help it.”

Rarity's eyes widened. “I meant no such… oh, you! Just, make sure to wash your ears and clean out that dirty mind of yours,” she waved Snickers on.

The shower was actually quick and mundane, for what Snickers had become accustomed to. They helped wash one another, Sweetie tried her horn at magic and terrified Snickers, thinking the sparkles would electrocute them both, and at the end they sat under the water and just enjoyed the feeling of hot water running over them for several minutes.

“So, I found out that there are gems to heat the water, right?” Snickers asked as he helped towel off Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, Rarity makes her own since they’re expensive. Did you know she bought the old town hall to turn into the boutique?” Sweetie’s voice cracked in her excitement.

“Yeah, she told me. Said it was expensive, too. How’d she afford it all, she couldn’t have been rich before, was she?”

“No,” Sweetie shivered and giggled. “Tickle spot, no touch! Anyway, her talent is finding gems; so she found a bunch of rare ones and spent a year traveling and selling them. That was when she learned to talk ‘ahll fauncy, dahling’,” Sweetie mocked her sister and they both giggled. “Before that, Rarity talked normal, like the rest of her family. She actually sounds more like mom than dad.”

“Yeah, she showed me once! It’s kinda hard for her to do it, since she’s used that fancy accent for so long, but whatever makes her happy, right?”

“Sure, I guess. Don’t forget under my tail, if you don’t get my dock it’ll get itchy,” Sweetie advised. Snickers slowed the rubbing of Sweetie’s legs. “I trust you, Snickers,” Sweetie said from under a towel poorly wrapped over her mane, “and I really can’t get it and if it doesn’t get got, then I’ll have to scoot on a towel like a dog and that’s just humiliating.”

Snickers shrugged. “Okay… I’m just not super comfortable doing it because of how close it all is.”

Sweetie laughed. “Where else would you expect it all to be?”

“You gotta point,” Snickers admitted and rubbed from her hind hoof up her leg, around her haunches and over her tail. Sliding the towel under her tail something happened he’d never actually seen and he stopped. “Hey, Sweetie?”

Her voice was quiet and very high pitched. “Yes?”

“Your… thingie just did something weird…” he said resuming his toweling of her and making sure to cover her vulva with the towel so he couldn’t see it happen again.

Sweetie just squeaked something and Snickers shrugged it all off. Fillies and mares are so weird sometimes.

Once he was done, Sweetie covered her head with the towel she had for her mane and only left a little tunnel for her to see through while drying him. When he’d look back she’d move quickly and move his head forward again. “No looking right now, my… mane’s too messy, can’t show it.”

“Sweetie Belle, I’ve seen your mane a dozen different ways, what’s going on?” Snickers finally asked and turned quickly, moving his foreleg to deflect her attempt to push him while tossing the towel off her head with the other. “Woah, you’re really super blushing… what’s going on?”

Sweetie did a fantastic Fluttershy impersonation by whispering and hiding behind her mane, for what little it did.

“Look, if this is about what your thingie did, I’m not bothered or weirded out, okay? I think it was kinda nice to see, to be honest. It shows you really trust me, right?”

Sweetie turned a darker shade of pink and took a shaky breath. “I… I gotta go, I’m sorry I can’t finish drying you right now, I have… I have to go,” she squeaked and ran from the bathroom.

“Wait… my tail’s still wet,” he grumbled and got up. “Dumb fillies and their… private parts doing their weird things. I swear that if I get an itchy tail I’m gonna make her eat a worm.” Quickly drying his tail to the best of his ability, he finally had to stop and admit defeat. “I can’t dry my dang dock.

“Whatever Sweetie’s got going on, she can take a second to help me with this,” he said tossing a towel over his back and leaving the bathroom; reaching her room quickly. He used his forehoof to open the door with a light shove and took a step in. “Sweetie, I really need you to help--”

He silently looked at her looking at him over her shoulder; her chest on a pillow with one foreleg under her body and the other around her thigh with her tail high and her body parallel to him, exposing herself to him fully and leaving no place in his imagination for denying what she was doing.

“OhmygoshImsosorry,” Snickers rambled backing out of the room, dropping the towel, and running to his own room, slamming the door, and pressing his back to it. His heart raced and he couldn’t think a steady thought. The image of Sweetie’s filly bits were burnt into his mind’s eye, the knowledge of what he’d walked in on, the burning in his cheeks.

A rare thing happened at that moment; he had no idea what to do. Ideas of what to say, how to apologize, what would happen from that moment forward. Would he be in trouble, would he be arrested or sent back to a hospital to be examined? Maybe he’d have to run from an angry mob that was led by the Dink.

Banners announcing him as an alien, Celestia burning him alive for what he’d seen?! Snickers curled up on the floor and pet his tail as he breathed heavily. Then there was a soft knock on the door. Snickers froze and curled tighter, hoping it would all go away and he couldn’t have messed everything up again.

“Snickers, can we talk?” Sweetie said softly through the door. “Rarity’s here, too. She heard you shouting and your door slam, we’re just worried about you… and what you saw.”

“Yes, darling, we’re only concerned and not at all upset. You’re in no trouble, we’d just like to explain what happened and discuss it.”

Snickers relaxed a little at Rarity’s words. “Y-your’re…” he managed with a squeak, realizing he was trembling.

“No, we’re not going to be mad, may we come in?” Rarity asked again, just as softly.

“Y-yes.”

The door handle glowed with a blue aura and it started to open, stopped by his body. Sweetie peeked in and then leaned back, whispering to Rarity. The area around Snickers glowed and moved with the door, lifting him slightly off the carpet so they could both enter his room.

“Oh, you look so sad, Snickers,” Sweetie pouted and walked over to nuzzle and hug him. Sweetie was pulled back when Rarity noticed his eyes had rolled back and his eyelids fluttered closed, a smile touched his lips.

“No, no, Sweetie. Not the best time to touch a male after where your hooves have been…” Rarity said setting Sweetie beside her. Sweetie blushed again and turned so her head was hiding behind Rarity’s foreleg. “Snickers, I understand that you saw Sweetie touching herself, am I correct?”

Snickers blinked his eyes open, his smile was wider. “Yeah…” Then his smile fell and he lay back down ashamed.

“Well, I just want you to know it’s a completely natural thing for everypony to do, and even though you saw what you did, you shouldn’t be ashamed, either of you.”

Sweetie squeaked. “But… he saw my everything… I’m not mad, but…”

Snickers leaned up. “I’m so sorry, I should have knocked, or just dried my own dumb tail, but it’s all my fault, and if you hate me then I understand,” Snickers said curling back up again.

“No, I’m not upset!” Sweetie said moving and laying beside him. Rarity was ready to pull her sister away again, but Sweetie shook her head slightly at her. “Snickers, I trust you. And I know you wouldn’t do anything to me, and you’d do anything for me, right?”

Snickers nodded and lifted his head; Sweetie continued. “Then don’t be mad at yourself, I should have locked the door. I should have taken a better position than just jumping on the bed and starting,” Rarity bit her lip to restrain a snicker at the image of what Snickers must have walked in to see. “I should have just told you what was happening when it happened in the bathroom, but I just ran away and made it worse by not telling you.

“It’s not all your fault, okay?” Sweetie said reaching to his head and pulling him gently. He sat up and and inhaled the scent she still had, then exhaled.

“Sweetie Belle,” he said, “I trust you, too. And I won’t take what you’ve said for granted, okay? Just… lock your door next time, okay?” He and Sweetie snickered and then leaned forward, resting their foreheads together.

“Aww, that’s just darling to see… now, I’d love to give you more time to bond in such an adorable way, but there’s still a lot to do. Sweetie, go finish and lock your door; I know there’s nothing worse than stopping early. Snickers, let me dry your tail, then you can get dressed and… Sweetie, go on, now. I’ll keep Snickers company so you won’t be bothered… away with you, now.”

Sweetie stepped back from Snickers and hesitated before running from the room and down the hall. Her door closed and clicked locked in the silence she’d left in her wake. “Well,” Rarity said, “that’s that, then. You don’t need a few minutes, do you?”

“No, mom… I’m fine for now,” he said bashfully and stood up with her prodding.

“Good, a few seconds of scrubbing your forelegs may be unpleasant, but poor Sweetie Belle will have to practically wash her hooves for a minute to get the lingering aroma from her… activities off of her, lest the colts flock to her without even knowing why.”

Snickers stood still as Rarity ruffled his tail and used magic to help dry it before she brought over the grooming supplies she had purchased for him and used them fully.

“Rarity… I’m all done and,” Sweetie looked in the doorway and averted her gaze from Snickers, “I’m all washed up, again… I brushed my mane and coat, so I’m just gonna--”

“I think not, darling sister,” Rarity said in a sing song voice pulling her sister to stand facing Snickers as she started to brush her sister for a couple strokes. “Oh… shoot,” Rarity ground her teeth when she realized her mistake.

“You’re getting Snickers’s coat hairs--”

“I know what I did,” Rarity snapped and regretted it. “I’m… sorry, both of you,” she said, “I shouldn’t have made such a simple mistake, nor should I have shouted at you, Sweetie Belle. Would you mind gathering your grooming kit while I finish your nephew’s?”

Sweetie moved to the door quickly and quietly. “Mom, are you okay?”

Rarity nodded and resumed brushing Snickers’s coat. “Yes, I just get irritable when under stress and am finding new ways to handle it.”

Snickers shrugged. “Why not go do what Sweetie just did? I mean, it’s kinda your thing for stress, right?”

Rarity frowned for a second. “No, my friends have been very helpful with me in offering different ways and not to rely on purely physical means of pleasure to mask what may truly be bothering me.”

“Okay… so, what can you do, then? Work more?”

Rarity snorted a laugh. “Oh, heavens, no. That’s one of the key triggers that led to my obsessive habit; if anything, I need to work less and on a schedule as opposed to round the clock to appease my clientele. One of the better ideas is to read works of fiction -turn around, darling- that aren’t related to romance or the like.

“I am a fan of Shadow Spade, and I’m not nearly through the latest duo of books that have been released, so I may do that while you’re at your group meeting with Lyra and the others.”

“So, what’s Shadow Spade about?” Snickers asked.

Sweetie returned to his room with a small basket containing brushes and sprays that Rarity dipped into and started using on Sweetie, who stood still and seemed to just enjoy the sensation.

“Well, Shadow Spade is a detective mare in a noir world setting. She solves crimes based on clues set across the city she’s working in, often hired by a pony desperate to find out why a crime has been committed that the local constabulary and courts may have passed over. A clue as simple as a feather colored grey can lead to a warehouse full of counterfeit jewelry, a wad of gum in a wrapper can lead to a murderer. It’s quite thrilling, to be honest.”

Snickers was smiling. “Well, why not bring a book to read? I’ll be in there for a while, Sweetie’s going to hang out here, what else is there to do?”

“Well… perhaps I could sit outside and bring the book I was reading before you entered my life,” Rarity smiled slyly, “and changed everything in ways I didn’t even think needed changing. Or, I could sit off to the side and listen to everypony talk for an hour about whatever may be bothering them and gather quite juicy gossip that I could never tell, driving me insane?”

Rarity tapped her hoof to her chin in thought. “Oh, choose insane!” Sweetie shouted hopping. “You could be your own stand in for your dresses and yell at yourself when you get poked with a pin.” Sweetie giggled.

Rarity’s horn glowed brighter for a second. “Idea! I think I’ll bring the book and Sweetie Belle,” Rarity offered. Once Sweetie’s fake howling cry of ‘no’ wound down, Rarity offered a final option. “Or, I can bring the book, sit outside, and Sweetie can stay here while Spike watches over her.”

“Wait, Spike’s gonna watch over me?” Sweetie asked in surprise. “He’s barely older than I am!”

“Yes, that is true,” Rarity reasoned, “but he has instant access to Princess Celestia if anything happens, and I’d trust that mare over any other pony to help my darling little sister.”

Snickers and Sweetie looked at Rarity sardonically. “Seriously.” Snickers said more than asked.

Rarity giggled and shook her head. “Oh, heavens no! Can you imagine bothering the ruler of an entire nation over a foalsitting problem? It would be beyond disgraceful, it would possible be borderline treasonous! No, Fluttershy will be watching over you and Scootaloo for the evening, but once we return, Scootaloo will be returning home to her aunt and her lovely wife.”

“So, how’s that work?” Snickers asked. “Two mares only, I mean. I mean, I get it, but it’s totally okay? I’m just trying to understand some more society and world differences.”

“Ah, yes, the monogamy thing. Well, they’re married and are deeply in love, as is obvious… hm, how to say it,” Rarity thought as she changed brushes and started on both foals’ tails, “ah, yes. While they are exclusive with one another, they are open to the option of polyamory and possibly carrying the foal of a stallion they care dearly for. They, like many monogamous couples, are open to temporary additions to their lives, with few actually becoming permanent members and creating a herd, however, often times two ponies just want one another.

“The same applies for stallions, as there are the same type of couples… oh, my,” Rarity face hoofed, “I must apologize to Noteworthy after what I said while you and I were swapping personalities, Snickers. I said some things that were quite unsavory, and in public, no less.”

“I’m sure it’ll be okay, mom. Just tell him your foul mouthed perverted son infected your brain and made you my puppet and I forced you to say uncouth things all around town,” Snickers sat back and waved his forelegs. “OooOOoo, spooky alien magic powers!”

Sweetie stood tall and looked straight ahead. “Yes, master. I shall do as you command,” she said flatly, “your will shall be done. I will find a puddle of mud and roll in it.”

“Mwahaha, go, minion, and when you return, dance the dance of a dozen bees across the showroom to spread the power of mother earth,” Snickers commanded dramatically.

“I shall do your bidding,” Sweetie droned and turned to the door.

“I think not, Sweetie Belle! I think I shall have to save you from this plot, have at thee, vile mental master,” Rarity stood up and took a brush in her magic like a sword.

Snickers took a brush in his mouth and they squared off. “Hyah, het, huf-fa!”

“Parry, thrust, twist, and strike, parry again, a-ha!”

“Must… find… mud.”

“You won’t beat me, defender of the Belle, for I have powers you cannot comprehend! Watch as I command my puppet to attack you!”

“I will attack Rarity,” Sweetie droned and bumped her head into her sister.

“Ouch, oh no, the pain is unrelenting! However can I survive this two pronged attack from such a powerful master of mind control? I must fight on, I must save Belle, if it’s the last thing I do. Hi-yah!”

Brushes clacked, bodies were struck, Sweetie bumped her sister every so often… a battle for the ages was had. “Ach, I apologize, Belle, I have failed to save you from his wicked plans! He is too powerful and shall soon have the world in his grasp,” Rarity stood still for a moment. “Master, what shall I do to appease you? As long as it doesn’t get me dirty or mess up my mane, not to mention--”

“Hey, thrall, I’m giving the orders here,” Snickers commanded. Rarity and Sweetie Belle snickered quietly.

“So sorry, master. How shall I be of assistance?”

“Hm,” Snickers thought for a couple seconds, “cookies sound like a good start.”

Rarity bowed deeply and stood up. “As you command, oh mighty powerful overlord from beyond the stars!” Rarity finished with a flourish of her foreleg at the ceiling.

“Yeah, yeah, make with the crispy nummies,” Sweetie said, bumping Rarity again.

“Oh, very well. And please, watch your horn. You may have given me a bruise during our little game just now.”

Sweetie followed Rarity first out of Snickers’s room. “Oh, sorry, Rarity. It wasn’t on purpose, but you should blame Snickers, he was the one who made me with his alien mind control powers!”

Outside the window, a forgotten ladder shook as the last user leapt from the bottom rungs and ran into the night.

***

After arriving at town hall, Rarity led Snickers to a conference room that was set up with couches, cushions, chairs, and a pile of pillows to choose from. Rarity waited with Snickers as seven quadrupedal creatures of varying sizes arrived wearing various colored cloaks that hid their faces and bodies in magical shadows arrived and were greeted by Lyra.

“You have fun, and if you need me, I’ll be just down the hallway here,” Rarity said taking her novel from her saddlebag and moving to a sofa, waving to Snickers before Lyra closed to room door.

“Welcome to the group, every creature,” Lyra said standing with her tail to the door and facing the creatures, “we have a new member tonight. Say hi to 16. Ah, I didn’t tell you, but we use numbers here, unless you want to give your name. It’s totally up to you and whatever you say in the group, stays in the group, right, every creature?”

“Yes, Lyra,” the room droned like a kindergarten class greeting a teacher.

“Now, would you like to say anything about yourself before we begin?” Lyra asked.

Snickers stood up. “Yeah, I’m Snickers, I’m an earth pony, I’m way older than I look so you don’t have to censor yourselves around me, I’ve heard and probably done it all… and I’m just here to see what happens and what this is about.” Snickers sat down and sighed.

The group applauded his greeting to make him feel welcome.

“That’s very nice to hear, Snickers. Now, as you all should know, this is a group about loving yourself as yourself, no matter who you are or what others may think of you. I, for example, had a great career as an archaeologist, then I found something that changed my view of the world… I can’t legally say what happened, but now I can speak and understand every language and have a voice that tells me when a pony is lying to me,” she smirked.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter here because as long as we’re honest with ourselves, it doesn’t matter what you say, because you can tell me anything you want. As long as you can go out of those doors tonight and be honest with the creature that you are, that’s all that matters. So, I won’t make this about me, who’d like to start?”

One of the creatures wearing a cloak shifted and raised a foreleg. “I would like to say something.” The voice was garbled and tingled Snickers’s ears like the tone was fluctuating wrongly.

“Ah, yes. And, just so you know, you don’t have to stay shadowed if you don’t want to. This is a safe place; there are enchantments all over the room to keep it soundproof and to keep scrying spells outside these walls. Only opening the door breaks the spells, and I’ve locked them from inside.”

The creature hesitated and then shook its head. “I’d like to stay hidden, if that’s okay with you,” the voice said.

“It’s fine, proceed,” Lyra said sitting down.

“W-well… I don’t feel like I belong where I am. I don’t feel like my tribe accepts me for who I am, and I want to be myself, but I’m terrified that if anypony knew, they’d be ashamed to know me, and I might lose what friends I’ve earned over the years.”

Lyra nodded. “I understand your feelings and appreciate you for stating them. Every creature, there’s no reason to be ashamed of your tribe or race. I know one of you isn’t a pony, for certain, and I love you just the same as you are now physically as you truly are in your heart,” she placed a forehoof to her chest and smiled at the shadowed ponies, and Snickers.

“Would you like to continue?”

“Y-yes. I… wish I could be a different tribe, maybe all the tribes sometimes. Not an alicorn, but the power to shift between the three tribes would be amazing. The freedom to fly with wind between my pinions, the feeling of magic as it courses through my body, being one with the earth and helping all the little animals that can’t help themselves.

“I want to be somepony I just can’t be, and it really saddens me.”

“Well,” Lyra asked, “who do you want to be? If you had to be someone, who would you be? Not a name, not a body, but who would you be, if you were able to be complete in a way you don’t feel you are now?”

The creature sat still and seconds passed. “I… would want to be confident, powerful, proud, able to take charge of the moment and not be who I really am under this cloak.”

Lyra nodded and smiled. “Regardless of who you are, who we are,” she gestured to the group, “we have to love ourselves enough to trust ourselves. If you want to be a powerful creature that takes charge of the situation, then work your way up to be that creature. Don’t just jump into being a take charge personality if you’re not, because it won’t go over well.

“What you’ll want to do is work a little more assertiveness over time into the way you do things. That doesn’t mean you have to be a doormat, but you shouldn’t be that minotaur, Iron Will, either. The ‘in your face’ attitude isn’t what any creature likes, but there’s a balance we all have to learn, and it’s going to be different for each of us and in different situations.

“What else would you like to say?” Lyra asked.

The creature shook its head under the cloak. “No, I’m good. I think I can work with that, but may I ask something later if I have a question?”

“Of course! But,” Lyra said magicking over a plush pony dolly, “this is Knock. If there’s anypony that wants to talk over another pony, I’ll have to have Knock take control and whoever is holding her will have the turn to speak. She’s enchanted to do that, but I won’t need her unless we get rowdy, right?” Lyra asked and most of the group chuckled weakly.

“Okay, who would like to speak next?” Wings clearly moved under one of the cloaks as a foreleg rose. “Yes, you,” Lyra had the doll point to the creature.

“Yeah, I’m a total wuss and I suck and hate myself because I can’t do anything right.”

Snickers was taken back by the factual statement it had made.

“Woah, woah, now. That’s not any way to think of yourself,” Lyra tossed the doll to the creature, who caught it and hugged it immediately. “You’re not worth hate, you’re not a wuss, and you’re a great creature. Why do you feel such hurtful things about yourself?”

The voice scoffed. “I… I’m scared, okay? I’m always afraid, I always hide it. I can’t stop shaking, so I hide. I tell other ponies I’m resting or napping, but I’m really just holding on to the cloud I’m on or the branch of the tree I’m hiding in for all I have.”

“Oh… are you, afraid of heights?” Lyra asked.

“Psh, no way! Flying’s the best thing ever! But, I always worry that I might let somepony down. I might not make it, somehow. What if I lose my cool in public, what if I screw up at the last second and get really hurt again. What if… I crash my last crash and break my wings, or hit another pony and hurt them because I’m being reckless…

“I have a genius level IQ, I can do math that confounds my peers and bosses, I can plan weather for the entire country for six months in a week; something that takes five weather teams in Cloudsdale to do in two months. But, what if I do what I do out there,” a foreleg pointed to the door, “and I goof it up? What if I say I’m the shit, but I just stink?”

“Language, please. We have a colt in group,” Lyra gently scolded.

Snickers shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got a swear jar at home that’s already half full, and it’s been a week since I got here,” the group laughed, even Lyra smiled, “so just treat me like an adult, because I can take a few words, no prob.”

Lyra shook her head. “Be that as it may, we may someday have a more sensitive creature, if we don’t right now, that doesn’t appreciate that kind of language. Please, let’s all keep the wording clean, okay?” There were a round of nods and agreements. “As you were saying?”

“Well, I guess what I’m getting at is that I’m just always afraid of what everypony will think of me for not being what I’ve made myself look like, if that makes sense.”

Lyra nodded. “Yes, it actually does. You’ve put on a mask, a mask over your real Self to hide who you are, and while the mask is on; you can be anything and everything all the time to everypony and creature, but every mask comes loose, some crack and can’t be fixed very easily.

“The real you wants so badly to be seen and accepted, but, what if the pony under the mask isn’t who every creature is expecting to see, right?” The creature nodded. “Well, we all have a mask we wear. There are several, actually. We have one at home when we’re alone. One with friends, one with coworkers, one at work, and so on.

“But under all those masks is the creature we’re all hiding, the truest version of ourselves that we don’t want to show the world. Often times, we wear so many masks that we may even bury and forget the pony… er, creature we truly are, and that can lead to anxiety, like what it sound like you have.”

“But, I’m not anxious about anything! I say I’ll do it, and I do it.”

“Yes, but what if you don’t do it perfectly, like the mask you’re wearing when you say those words leads others to believe you can. What if the mask you messes up and, through the eyes of the mask, you’re laughed at? Others don’t know they’re laughing at the true you, only the mask you’re wearing.

“Your eyes see the truth, and it hurts very badly when they laugh at you, through the layers you’ve put on, right into your very being… are, oh, do you need some tissues?” Lyra asked as the creature started shivering and the sound it made was a warbled sob. The creature nodded and when the tissues were given the creature took them and used one right away.

“S-sorry… I’m not sappy, I can’t be. I have to be st-str--” the creature collapsed and covered its head, crying. Two of the other cloaked ones beside it started to give hugs, then backed off when a blue foreleg moved from under the cloak and cast it off to her side. “Here, see me?! See the most awesome mare in Equestria? Crying? Weak? Ready to fall, but there’s nopony to pick me up,” she covered her face with her cloak.

“Rainbow Dash, thank you for trusting us with yourself,” Lyra said as she quickly trotted to the mare and hugged her. She stumbled back a step when Rainbow pressed herself into the hug and cried openly, something that Snickers found very uncomfortable, if he was honest with himself.

Minutes passed and Rainbow cried, talked about her feelings, and finally apologized to the group, hugging her cloak after trading it for Knock, the doll.

“That was a great moment for Rainbow, every creature. She let go of a lot of her stresses tonight and, Rainbow, if you have time, I’d like to see you after group so I can offer you some private advice.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, that’s alright. And, thank you for being so helpful, Lyra. I haven’t said that stuff for years and it’s kinda good to get out, finally.”

“That’s the goal of the group,” Lyra said and others agreed. “Okay, who’d like to go next?”

A body shuffled and a foreleg rose. “I am not new to these lands, I have traveled across the sands. The roads I have traveled have been rough, many times I have not been strong enough. I arrived in town many moons ago, winds did blow and time still flowed. I was not accepted in the home I made, through many trials I have had to wade.

My worry is that nopony will accept me for me, no matter what they say they now see. That this feeling with follow me wherever I go, making me with to someday return to my birth home.”

“Ah, yes,” Lyra crossed her forelegs and nodded, “you feel unwelcome, even though you’ve been welcomed. I can understand that feeling, too well. I once went on an expedition to the Undiscovered West and came across a tribal village of sapient monkeys that lived in a canopy city.

“They were wary of me, having had bad experiences with unicorns in their history. I spent three days there before I passed on going further into the wilderness, until I lost my supplies and had to backtrack. When I returned the monkeys smiled at me, talked with me, traded what they could, but the whole time I felt like they wanted me to leave.

“It was completely different from what I’d experienced on my first pass and after staying only one night, I left and never went back. I feel like you’re stronger than I could have been then, and now. I don’t want to go back to that place, and if I had to follow the path I took, I’d go around that village just to not feel that way again.

“The fact that you’re able, and strong enough, to go back to whatever places you’ve been with how poorly you’ve been treated is just amazing to me,” Lyra nodded to the speaker. “You have traveled so far, done so much, and have so much left to do; if any creature ever gives you a hassle, send them to me and I’ll set them straight,” she said sternly.

“No creature is going to pass judgement without good reason, if I can help it,” Lyra looked askance as Snickers for a split second reminding him of their meeting. “So, is there anything else you’d like to say or add?”

“Nay, I have nothing else to say. My troubles have, indeed, gone further away.”

Lyra looked at the clock and sighed. “Okay, one more, then we have to end the meeting tonight, until next week, that is. So, any creature?” Lyra asked and waited, only Rainbow blowing her nose broke the silence. “Well, how about you, Snickers? Is there anything you’d like to say about how you feel?”

Snickers shook his head. “Not this time, I’m sorry, but it’s just a lot to take in and a lot to think about. Maybe next week.”

“It’s fine, there’s no rush or pressure. If no creature has anything else to share… no? Okay, then. Dismissed, and thank you for coming, all of you,” Lyra said and waited for Rainbow to don her cloak and vanish in the shadows it provided. Lyra said goodbye to each as they passed and whispered something to each as well.

“Snickers,” Rarity said getting up from the sofa.

“Well, it looks like Rarity’s here, so you’re free to go. I hope to see you next week, right?”

Snickers nodded. “Yeah, I don’t see why not; it wasn’t that bad, actually.”

Lyra laughed and patted his head. “You’re winning me over, here. Go on, I’m sure it’s almost bedtime.”

“Indeed it almost is,” Rarity said nodding to Lyra, “and we should be going. Oh,” she looked at the cloaked figure waiting inside the room, “why that outfit is quite fetching, for a simple cloak it holds that enchantment quite well. Perhaps I should look into that as a fashion line…”

Snickers bumped Rarity with his head. “C’mon, mom. We’ve got things to do at the place with the stuff.”

“Okay, okay, no need to shove,” Rarity grumbled. “Thank you again, Lyra, I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”

Lyra waved and returned to the cloaked Rainbow Dash.

“So,” Rarity asked once she and Snickers had left the building, “how was it?”

“It wasn’t too bad; there was a lot of crying and talking about emotions,” Snickers held back on using Rainbow’s name, just barely, “by a couple mares. There was one that rhymed, their voices were all scrambled, but I liked the rhyming one; it was different.”

Rarity knew who that was, but wasn’t going to comment on who it was. “Really? Would you like to go again? Next week?”

Snickers nodded. “Sure, I mean, I can afford an hour a week, right?”

“I certainly hope so, otherwise you’re using your time poorly, and after you scheduled so well earlier tonight.”

“Well,” Snickers flipped his silver mane, “then I shan’t disappoint, shan’t I, darling?”

They shared a short laugh. “Indeed, and perhaps I’ll have to give you lessons on how a proper gentlecolt speaks.”

“Perhaps you should, I could use some more etiquette,” Snickers replied. “But, let’s get home, if that’s cool. I’m hungry for fish and… what kinda potatoes?”

Rarity grinned. “Chateau style, darling. I can’t wait to see what you think.”

Author's Note

Oh, see that, I can make an awkward moment kinda nice! And from now on, Sweetie will lock the doors before that happens!

Also, I love dialogue and really wish I used it more. Let me know what you thought.