//------------------------------//
// Episode 22: Stand Up for yourself 
// Story: Sarah's Adventure's in Equestria 
// by Zipp Storm 
//------------------------------//

Ren's POV

It was beautiful day in Ponyville and Me, Fluttershy, and Kodiak headed towards Ponyville's marketplace where everyone was busy with their usual shopping spree as I carried a list filled with food Fluttershy needed to buy for her cute little bunny friend.

"Alright Ren, let's split up." Fluttershy suggested. "I'll go and get the Asparagus and Tomato while you get the beets, carrots, and broccoli, okay?"

"Got it Flutters!" I nodded with a grin before we split up to different markets and went to buy some ingredients. Luckily, I had my bits as well as Fluttershy while Kodiak and I headed over to a shop that was owned by a pink elderly pony.

"Oh hello dearies, what do you need?" She asked politely.

"Oh, I was wondering if you sol any beets, carrots, and lettuces here?" I asked politely.

"And we're kinda in a hurry." Kodi added, wagging his tail a bit. The old pony chuckled before petting him gently on the head before giving me such of the items I asked for. Alright, I got the beets, and the carrots, as well as the...umm...

"Excuse me, ma'am? I don't think you got me the lettuces." I said, not seeing it in my bag.

"Sorry dear, we ran out of lettuces early this morning." She apologized. I let out a sigh and replied "It's alright, I'll try and go look for some at another shop. Thanks."

I gave her two bits to pay for them while we headed out in search for some lettuce.

"Where do you think we can buy lettuce at, Ren?" Kodi asked curiously. I let out a shrug and replied "Don't know. Maybe Flutters knows."

"Okay, let's go over to that shop and asked her." Kodi pointed his paw over to where Fluttershy was, who was busy standing in line to buy an Asparagus until she was cut off by a pony wearing glasses. Well that was rude.

"Oh, umm...excuse me, um, I think you just stepped in front of me?" Fluttershy called, but the pony in front just ignored her as she paid for the Asparagus and began leaving. "Excuse me, I think you made a mistake? You see I was actually here first and-"

"Sorry, didn't notice you there." What the?! That's a lie! She totally noticed her and just plain got in front of Fluttershy like she was nothing! That was really rude, you know!

"I know..." Fluttershy sighed. We walked over to her as I asked "You alright Flutters? I saw the whole thing."

"Don't worry Ren, like she said, she didn't noticed me." Fluttershy assured while I felt unsure about that. I know that she did on purpose on you like that. I wished I could something about that. Oh wait, I have my Hacking Gun...but then again, I can't these guys, even if I want to help out Fluttershy.

Suddenly, we looked over to see an orange coated elderly pony walking up to the stand with a light chuckle.

"Oh, pardon me, sir-"

"Yes, what?" The old stallion asked curiously, pulling out one of those ear trumpets that old people back in my world uses to hear what others are saying.

"Umm, excuse me, you might've cut in front of my girlfriend here." I stated with a calm smile.

"A cut of celery? But this is the asparagus stand." He replied, not hearing what I said correctly.

"No, he said that I think you just cut in front of me." Fluttershy said through the ear trumpet, only to receive a laughter from him.

"Oho, no need, dearies, I'm already in front!" He chuckled before buying an asparagus from the stand and heading out. Well I can't blame since I think most ear trumpets aren't that much helpful for the elderly, no offence to them.

"I noticed." Fluttershy sighed while I put a comforting hand to her shoulder, which made her smile in relief.

"Don't worry. I'll buy the asparagus." I winked before heading over to the stand and tried to buy an asparagus until I was bumped into somepony.

"OW!" We both yelled as I rubbed my aching head before seeing who I bumped into. "Jamie?!"

"O-oh! H-hey there Ren." Jamie greeted, rubbing his head before getting back up with a nervous look on his face. "S-sorry for bumping into you. I didn't mean to..."

"No no, it's alright. Besides, it was just an accident." I assured with a nervous chuckle before smiling over him.

"Oh Jamie!" Fluttershy called as she and Kodiak walked next to me before asking "What brings you to the marketplace?"

"Twilight headed back home to Canterlot with Spike for the weekend and won't be back for a while, so I'm keeping an eye out for the Golden Oaks Library." Jamie explained. "Besides, I went on jogging with Mason and Jack for my basic training, and after we were done, we went to our own separate paths, but while I was walking, I bumped into some ponies who gave me nasty comments along the way."

"Like what kind of nasty comments?" I asked.

"Like saying 'Hey watch it!' and 'Watch where you're going nerd' and all that." Oh wow, did some of these ponies wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something because I've never seen any other ponies to act up like that. Well...the Flim Flam Brothers are just an exception, but still...

"Hey, don't worry, you'll be fine now. Why not we buy the asparagus? I'm trying to buy it for Fluttershy." I replied with a soft grin.

"O-oh...thank you." Jamie smiled softly as we walked over to the stand until we were cut-off by ponies wearing some outfits that might've seen from the 90s.

"...And I was like 'Oh, wow'." One of the ponies said to her friend.

"Umm...excuse me?" Fluttershy called, only to get a scoff from them.

"Uhh, do ya mind? We're trying to have a conversation here." The first pony scoffed. "And besides, you're like in my personal space."

We all looked at each other with concern looks as Jamie stepped in and politely asked "N-no ma'am, but we're here to buy some asparagus and we think that you cut us-"

"So what? Move it or lose it turd." The second pony scoffed, causing Jamie to wince before nervously smiling at her.

"No really ma'am, but we need it. So could you kindly move out of the way?" Jamie asked with a forceful smile.

"My friend is right." Fluttershy agreed, stepping up with a worried look on her face. "We really need to-"

"Seriously, do you need your asparagus's so badly? Get a life." The second pony scoffed, much to my irritation. Seriously, what is their problem? What did we do to them?

"But-" The ponies gave Jamie an irritated glare, causing him to back away in fear. Well that was plain rude. Well I mean he is getting stronger physically, but not emotionally. This could be bad. "N-never mind...."

"He's right. There's no rush." Fluttershy added, backing away as well.

Kodi and I looked at each other in worried before we glared at the two ponies.

"Hey! That wasn't nice! You two were cutting them off when they were trying to buy something!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah! You two aren't even buying anything at all! So what gives you the right to tell them that!" Kodi added.

"Look, we're having a conversation here, so like move it." In front of an asparagus stand? Really? Before me and Kodi could argue more with them, a familiar human-unicorn hybrid appear. "Excuse me, ponies. Would you mind moving out the way, please?" she asked. 

"And who are you to tell us that, ya big larb?" The second pony asked irritably. 

Sarah expression turned angry and she turned into her rage self. Her hair turned orange as well as her horn. Her body turned red as well. "I said move or else!" she yelled adding a growl for extra emphasis. This time to the ponies got the message and ran away. Sarah changed back into her normal self. "There you go, guys." 

"Oh...thank you so much, Sarah." Fluttershy smiled softly as she and Jamie walked over to them.

"Y-yes, thank you for helping us." Jamie thanked.

"Whatever. Maybe next time defend yourselves, especially you nerd." Jack stated, coming over and glaring at the two.

"R-right...sorry. I was trying to, but-"

"Look, just try and learn to defend yourself! We've been training you for weeks and yet you still haven't learned a thing?" Jack asked irritably.

"Jack!" We turned to our left to see Mason, Rarity, and Pinkie walking over to us with the two girls having worried looks and Mason giving Jack a stern one. "You know that Jamie is trying his best, so don't be hard on him!"

"Tch!" Jack scoffed at Mason as he replied "Like I care! I'm just trying to toughen him up, that's all!"

"So what are you guys doing here?" Kodi asked curiously.

"Just came here for some shopping, nothing much Kodiak darling." Rarity assured before turning to Fluttershy and Jamie. "But we saw the whole thing. Fluttershy, Jamie, you two mustn't let them treat you that way."

"Oh, it's-it's really no big deal..." Fluttershy assured.

"Fluttershy, it is." I said with a concern and serious look. "You and Jamie are shy but caring people, but are getting taken advantage from the others. They're bullying you."

"It's alright Ren, I'm used to it." Jamie stated sadly.

"Well it's a frigging problem for us." Jack scoffed while Pinke nodded in agreement as she furrowed her eyebrows and added "Yeah! It's bigger than big. It's double big. You are a pony with a problem!"

"Right...thank you Pinkie Pie." Mason said with a deadpan look before turning to the two people in question. "But she has a point. You two are having some trouble backing yourselves up. It's going to be a problem if this keeps happening."

"What problem?" Jamie asked. "T-there's nothing going on! I swear!"

"He's right. There's nothing wrong with us." Fluttershy nodded. 

"Fluttershy, Jamie, I know you too are shy. So am I. But you can't let them walk all over you both." Sarah said to them. "Promise me?"

"Oh, okay!" Fluttershy nodded, understanding what it means now. "I promise. Oh! Good!" We looked over to see that there was three more asparagus on the stand. But two ponies came over and bought the other two asparagus, much to Fluttershy and Jamie's disappointment.

"Oh well...at least there's two more to buy." Jamie sighed, but unfortunately, our luck has overturned as a nerdy pony who almost looked like Steve Urkel...no wait, never mind. Sorry, but anyway, he took the last asparagus and paid for it.

"Oh come on!" Kodi growled.

"Oh, that's okay, I don't mind." Fluttershy assured with a sad look. Rarity came over with a sly gin and said "Watch and learn."

Wonder how she's gonna pull it off?

"Hold it right there, Mr. small and handsome." Rarity called, gaining the nerdy pony's attention.

"Uh, who me?" He asked.

"Oh, of course you. Nopony ever called you handsome before?" Rarity questioned in a flirting way.

"Uhh, that's be a big no." He shook his head.

"Oh, well, they should! How about flexing some of your muscles for me?" She picked up his left foreleg, causing him to blush and smiled weirdly as his green box starting spinning around like a windmill. He then began flexing his foreleg, barely showing any muscles. "Oh my heavens! Do you think a strong, handsome stallion such as yourself could give my friend the last asparagus?"

She used her horn to draw the guy's bit back to him while she took the asparagus from his bag.

"Nuhh...." He nodded, blushing madly before she walked off with a grin on her face.

"Well that was quite a good acting, Rarity." Mason commented with a light smile before frowning a bit. "But was it right to do all that?"

"Yeah, kinda a pathetic way to do that." Jack scoffed. "I rather beat the living crap out of him."

"Oh just stop it, you! Boys like you always uses their fist instead of words." Rarity rolled her eyes, upsetting the biker.

"What you say, loon?!" Jack exclaimed.

"P-please, stop fighting!" Jamie begged.

"Yes, fighting is wrong, you two." Fluttershy agreed.

"Shaddup!" Jack yelled, causing Jamie and Fluttershy to wince in fear.

Sarah appeared before Jack in her rage mode, "Hey, be calm already!" she growled, frightening the biker. "Alright, alright, cool it." he stated quickly with his arms in the air. Sarah turned back to her cheerful self, "Good." 

"Don't worry you two, Rarity was just showing off an example on how to defend yourselves." I stated. 

"I'm not so sure about this..." Fluttershy said, feeling unsure about doing all that.

"M-me too...it feels wrong." Jamie muttered, only to get a scoff from Jack.

"I done plenty of wrong things when I was a kid and you don't see me complaining." Mason rolled his eyes at the biker before commenting "That's because you're different from him."

Mason turned to the two with a soft smile and said "Don't worry you two. You two just need to pay attention and we can help out with your situation."

"Why can't Sarah just give them her rage side?" Kodi suggested. 

"NO!" Everyone exclaimed. 

"Why not?" Sarah asked. 

"Sarah, your rage side is very dangerous. I mean with the fire hair and loud voice. What do you think could happen if you give that to Jamie and Fluttershy?" Mason explained. 

Sarah winced at imagining that. "You gotta a point." 

"Um...I guess not." Fluttershy shrugged.

"Y-yeah...I'll give it a try." Jamie nodded with an unsure look on his face.

"Alright then! What else is on your list?" Rarity questioned, handing me the asparagus as I put it into the basket I was holding onto.

"Let's see..." I looked over at the list and said "Next we need is tomatoes."

"Oh wait, did you get everything from your side of the list Ren?" Fluttershy asked curiously, but I shook my head with a nervous smile and replied "No, I only got the beets and carrots. They were fresh out of lettuce."

"Oh, it's okay." Fluttershy sighed. Oh man, now I feel really bad for her. I mean, I'm okay with Fluttershy being shy and timid, it's what who she is. However, she's being pick on some of the ponies here like it's nothing. Well I'm gonna try and help her out of this situation.

"Well we'll come with you guys to help you out." Mason smiled a bit, which made feel glad to hear that.

"Thanks you guys." I smiled.

"You guys are the best!" Kodi grinned before we headed out towards the tomato stand.

"Oh, there's still plenty of tomatoes." Fluttershy smiled before walking over and using her wing to put the tomatoes into her bag before paying the clerk with a single bit. "Here you go."

As she was about to take her leave, the clerk cleared her throat and said "That'll be two bits. Not one."

"Wait what?" I asked in confusion.

"Oh, but last week, it was only one bit." Fluttershy pointed out.

"That was then, this is now." She stated sternly.

"Hey wait! That's not fair!" I exclaimed.

"Well too bad, now move it." She scoffed. Unbelievable...

"It's okay Ren. I don't wanna argue about it." Fluttershy stated, placing another bit on the table. Wait, what the? I saw that smug look on that clerk's face. Well that's clearly unfair to me!

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Pinkie came in with a stern look as she grabbed Fluttershy away and exclaimed "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Minding my own business, maybe you should try it." The clerk stated with an irritable tone. Jeez, is anypony we're meeting woke up on the wrong side of the bed?

"Two bits for tomatoes is outrageous!" You think that's bad? I once went to the grocery store with my dad once and found out that the tomatoes cost like eight dollars. That was quite stupid, am I right? I prefer paying it four dollars for it. "One big is the right price!"

To prove her point, Pinkie took one bit away from the table, much to the clerk's annoyance as she grab the bit back from her.

"I say it's two bits!" The clerk exclaimed.

"One bit!"

"Two bits!"

"One bit!"

"Two bits!"

"One bit!"

"Two bits!

"One bit!

"Two bits!"

"One bit!"

"Two bits!

"Two bits!" Wait what?

"One bit!"

"I insist it's two bits or nothing!" Pinkie grinned.

"One bit and that's my final offer!" The clerk exclaimed, giving Pinkie the one bit while she took the other.

"Have it your way, one bit it is." Pinkie smiled before grabbing the coin away from away as we went our distant ways. I looked back and saw the clerk widening her eyes in shock upon realizing what she did.

"Ha ha ha! Serves her right, right guys?" Kodi laughed.

"You can say that again." I nodded with a grin before turning to Pinkie and said "But holy cow, Pinkie. You just pulled off a Bugs Bunny there."

"I don't know whose this 'Bugs Bunny' guy is, but he sounds hilarious!" Oh trust me, he and Daffy Duck are hilarious in their own ways.

"Damn, pretty clever move." Jack exclaimed with a toothy grin.

"I see, you tricked her with word play. I understand." Jamie nodded, writing it down in his notebook.

"Exactly. You guys need to assert yourself more." Mason stated.

"Yeah! Asserting yourself can be fun!" Pinkie smiled.

"I guess you're right!" Fluttershy smiled.

"So Fluttershy, Jamie, you both feel like giving it a try?" Rarity asked with a smile.

"I-I'm not so sure..." Jamie rubbed his arm bashfully with a doubtful look before bumping into a pony, who was minding his own business. "Oh! So sorry ma'am!"

"Watch where you're going, idiot." She scoffed while Jack growled angrily and tried to punch her, but Mason and I held him back.

"No Jack! It's not worth it!" I exclaimed.

"Ren's right! Just calm down and take a deep breath!" Mason said sternly. Jack proceed to do so as he breathed in and breathed out of his nostrils.

"Alright, alright, I'm cool now..." Jack glanced away while Jamie looked down with a sad look.

"Don't worry Jamie, I'm sure you'll get better next time." Kodi assured.

"Maybe..." Jamie turned his head away, making us look at each other in concern. Oh boy, this can't get worse.

"Oh!" Huh? I looked over at Fluttershy, who was looking at a nearby stand with a surprised look. "I need that cherry!"

Cherry? I narrowed my eyes towards the stand and saw the little cherry that was on the stand by a big stallion with a beard. Oh right, since we're making a vegetable-like sundae for Angel, so it would make sense to buy a cherry. Like they always say, cherry on top.

Suddenly, Fluttershy flew over to that stand and said "Boy, am I glad you have one cherry left. You see, I'm making this special meal for my bunny Angel. He's a very picky eater, and the recipe calls for a cherry on top."

She placed a single bit on the table and said "Here you go."

"...So you say you need this cherry 'very badly'?" The stallion asked curiously, causing some of us to raise a brow at him. What's he planning?

"Oh yes, I'm desperate for it!" Fluttershy nodded.

"Then it'll be ten bits!" Wait what?! Okay, that's just a sick move you're pulling off! I walked over to him with a stern and serious look and said "Now wait just a minute! You can't just give out the price like that! That's so unfair!"

"Sorry kid, not my problem." He scoffed. What the heck?! Does this guy even knows what he's doing at all?!

"Don't worry Ren, I'll handle it." Fluttershy assured with a soft grin, but I felt hesitate about letting her doing that. However, I looked back and saw everyone giving her encouraging looks and gestured me to let her handle this. I let out a sigh and backed away a bit as Fluttershy cleared her throat and gave him a soft smile.

"Hey there Mr. Handsome, I know you wanna do the right things because you're handsome and strong, and big, handsome, strong guys are always nice to everypony, right?"

Well...I know that she isn't wrong there. I've seen gaming characters who are big, handsome, and strong are always nice and friendly.

"Ten bits for the cherry." Jeez, that guy just doesn't give two craps about this.

"Ten bits for one cherry's outrageous! I insist on paying you...eleven bits!" Fluttershy exclaimed while I widened my eyes in shock on what she said.

"Eleven bits?" I asked in confusion. "Umm, I think you got that wrong Fluttershy."

"Oh umm....I mean, nine bits!" Fluttershy corrected herself, but not realizing that's only gonna make things worse.

"Er, now wait a minute." The stallion said, confused by the prices Fluttershy's giving him.

"Okay, twelve bits, but that's my final offer!"

"Fluttershy, no offence but you're just making the prices more worse!" I exclaimed with a worried look.

"Yeah, you're just confusing me." See, even this guy agrees with me!

"Whatever, it's twelve bits, take it or leave it." Fluttershy pleaded.

"Okay, I'll take it!" Wait what? Fluttershy took out her bag filled with bits until I came by and stopped her.

"No wait Flutters! Don't pay this greedy guy your money!" I exclaimed as Rarity and the others came by to help out as well, pulling her away from the stand. "Renny's right! One cherry is not worth twelve bits!" Pinkie agreed.

"But...I was only doing what you did." Fluttershy stated.

"Yeah, and you only made things worse than before." Jack scoffed, only to get a hard nudge on the gut from Mason.

"Look Fluttershy, it was a valiant effort, but you should refuse to give him your business and just walk away." Mason said.

"Yeah, that guy is just making too many prices because he's too greedy." Kodi agreed before looking back and growling at the stallion.

"But...I can't let Angel starve!" Fluttershy exclaimed in worried. "He won't eati it unless I make it just right!"

"Fluttershy, it's just Angel being...well Angel. He loves you for who you are, so I'm sure he might like it." I assured with a soft grin before muttering "Despite being the prickly bunny he is."

"I don't care Ren, I need that cherry no matter what it costs!" Fluttershy zoomed towards the stand with a panicking look on her face. Somehow, the stallion who owned the cherry stand must've heard our conversation as he gave out another outrageous price.

"In that case, twenty bits!" Fluttershy stopped with widened eyes and a hurtful look on her face.

"Twenty?! Oh, but I don't have that much!" Fluttershy said. 

"Don't worry Flutters, I got it." Sarah said. She walked up to the stand and started doing what Fluttershy did. "Tweleve bits for one cheery it outrageous." 

The clerk then got up in her face. "Oh yeah and what are you gonna do about it?" the clerk threatened. Oh no, this can't end well. Sarah then whistled and out came Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo. Oh boy! The clerk pony was shocked at the raptors sudden appearence. "Now, how about we drop that offer to two bits, alright?" Sarah asked with a smug look on her face. The clerk pony nodded rapidly and gave her the cherry for two bits. She walked away and the raptors followed her. The clerk sighed in relief. 

"Here's your cherry." Sarah said, handing the cherry to Fluttershy. "Oh.. thank you, Sarah." 

"That was pretty slick, newbie." Jack toothily grinned. 

"And uncalled for!" Mason said with an upset expression on his face. 

"When people play dirty, you play dirty back." Sarah stated. 

"Nice." Jack claimed and we both high-fived each other. Mason sighed and shook his head. 

"Yeah, you really helped us out there. I can't thank you enough." I chuckled before adding "Well, the raptors were unnecessary, but I'm sure the guy will be alright."

"And besides, I think he kinda deserved it." Kodi shrugged.

Jamie looked sad. "We can't defend ourselves and can't take the insults at all." Jamie sighed sadly. "Face it, we're useless..."

"I wouldn't say you and Fluttershy are useless, you guys are great friends and have great talents." I stated with a smile. "Just ignore them and hopefully you guys will be brave."

"T-thanks...I guess..." Jamie sighed, clutching on his notebook real tight.

"Well either way, I better head over and pick up Carrie from school. I'll see you later." Mason said before taking his leave.

"And I'm late on throwing another party for somepony! See ya!" Pinkie immediately dashed off, leaving a puffy cloud of herself behind before it faded away.

"And I better head back to the shop with Kaede. She's watching it over for me since I told her that I needed a nice stroll for a bit. Bye bye." Rarity then took her leave, leaving me, Fluttershy, Jamie, and Kodiak behind. Man, today's such a rough day for them. I understand that these guys want to stand up for themselves, but no matter, they're just gonna make themselves get bullied more. If only there was something we can do to help them out of their little crisis.

"Ooh, what's that?" Sarah asked. 

"What is it?" I asked and she showed us a poster that showed a blur fur coated Minotaur flexing his muscles.

"Saw this flyer hang around town and it just so happens that it tells me about a guy who goes by the name of Iron Will holds some seminars to liven up people's attitudes to make them out of their weak selves." Sarah explained.

"Oh? Really?" Fluttershy asked in surprise. "Y-you really think he could help us?"

"Maybe." I said. Iron Will...that sounds like a pretty tough up name if I do say so myself. But is it even possible for a guy like him to turn ponies from being pushovers to strong and independent ponies? Besides, I'm definitely surprise that they're Minotaurs in this world. Then again, this is the land of Equestria where everything you never imagined exist.

"Do you think that offer was a good idea?" Kodi wondered aloud.

"Well maybe." I shrugged before turning to my friends and asked "What do you guys think?"

Fluttershy thought for a while before smiling softly and said "Well...maybe it could help. As Celestia is my witness, I'm never gonna be a pushover again!"

"Y-yeah." Jamie muttered, nodding in agreement. "Maybe...it's for the best. Sure I've been training with Jack and Mason for a while, but I...I haven't gotten stronger from my emotions. Besides, nobody liked me for who I am..."

"Jamie..." I said, feeling bad for him.

"Maybe it's for the best. How about we head over to Iron Will and meet up with him? We'll see what kind of guy he is." Jamie suggested. "If what Rantaro said is true, we should go."

"Well..." Fluttershy thought for a while before turning to me and said "Ren, do you think you come with me? I'm too scared being alone."

"Well Jamie is gonna be going with you." I pointed out.

"But...I'm just scared without ya." Aww...well I can't refuse an offer like that.

"Well alright, I'll join in with ya guys." I grinned, which made her smile while Jamie twiddled his fingers a bit and said "W-well...I guess we need someone to help us out if things go awry."

"Right!" Fluttershy nodded before realizing something. "Oh dear! I almost forgot about Angel's special recipe! Oh, but we don't have any lettuce!"

"Don't worry Flutters, I can go and get some back at home. That way, you could make it for him." I suggested, which made her nodded in agreement.

"Thank you Ren." Fluttershy flew up and kissed me on the cheek, causing me to blush a bit. "Now come on, let's go and get the lettuce and after I'm done making Angel's special recipe, we can go to that seminar today."

"Okay, but how do we even find it by the way?" I asked curiously.

"Well I took a closer look at the flyer before Rantaro put it away." Jamie spoke up. "I-it said something about hedge maze center."

"Don't worry, I know where that is, so it shouldn't be a problem." Fluttershy chuckled. "Now come on, let's go."

"Right behind ya Flutters!" I exclaimed before we began walking back to the home-ship to grab that lettuce in order to fully make that sundae vegetable treat for that little devil rabbit.

"You know Ren...the others are always seem to trust you a lot, do they? But...how?" Jamie questioned.

"Because he's awesome!" Kodi grinned.

"Well I'm not that awesome, boy." I petted him on the head before turning back to Jamie and replied "Well I've been here way longer before you and the others, and I always had faith and kept encouraging them no matter what to not give up on missions to help make our friendship grow closer, that's what."

"I-I see..." Jamie glanced away, feeling a bit sadden to hear that. Hmm, I wonder if I could help him with that. Though, I wonder...if maybe going to this seminar will really help them out? I'm always there to defend Fluttershy and my friends no matter what.





Later

Sooner or later after we got the lettuce, Sarah, me, Kodi, and Jamie were waiting outside of Fluttershy's cottage to see if she was done or not so that we could go to the seminar. It's already 3:00 by now.

"Are we even sure she's coming out Ren?" Kodi asked curiously.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy's the type to never break promises." I assured with a soft grin.

"Well it would make sense due to her overall kindness and that nice, timid, and shy personality of hers." Jamie muttered loudly, which made me smile about that. See, even he gets it.

Soon, we heard the door opening, revealing Fluttershy exiting out with a sad look on her face.

"Hey Flutters, what's wrong?" I asked, noticing her expression.

"It's nothing Ren, just that Angel didn't like the treat because it didn't taste good enough." Fluttershy replied. "He even kicked the bowl straight towards my face...again."

"Again?" Jamie asked incredulous.

"It happened earlier." I answered. "But don't worry Flutters, it's just that Angel is just being stubborn and prickly as always."

"True, but still..." I placed a comforting hang on her shoulder before giving her a kiss on the cheek and said "Don't worry, when we go to the seminar, I'm sure it'll help you and Jamie to defend yourselves."

"Yeah! You two will do great together!" Kodi agreed, licking Fluttershy on the face, which made her laugh.

"Okay, thanks for the encouragement." Fluttershy smiled.

"Y-yeah..." Jamie nodded, giving us a surprised look on his face. "Although, I've...quite surprised that you would kiss a pony." He widened his eyes as he soon realized on what he said. "Ah! Please forgive me Fluttershy! I didn't mean to say that!"

"It's okay Jamie. I know you didn't mean it." Fluttershy smiled, which made Jamie look away with embarrassment.

"R-right..." Jamie nodded. "So, uhh...should we go now?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I nodded.

"So where is the Hedge Maze Centre anyway?" Kodi questioned.

"Oh, I've read about it once, so I'll lead the way." Fluttershy offered before flapping her wings and flying off while I took out my capsule, hit the button, and threw it in the air, activating my hoverboard. I hopped onto it before turning to Kodiak and Jamie as I said "Well hop on you two!"

Sarah changed into a falcon and followed after Fluttershy and her raptors were following her.

"You got it Ren!" Kodi nodded before jumped onto the back of the board, along with Jamie, who apparently hesitated on doing this.

"O-okay...just don't go too fast, please?" Jamie begged.

"Alright Jamie. We'll go nice and easy for ya." I winked before we flew off and headed straight towards the Hedge Maze Center while we followed after Fluttershy. Hopefully that we aren't late for this thing because this is very important for these two to get stronger.





Later

Well...this is quite the party we're in. We soon finally arrived to the Hedge Maze Center as we saw how many ponies were in this. Holy cow, this Iron Will guy must be really good at motivating people if he's attracted so many fans for a seminar. Sarah changed back into herself. 

"Oh! Ah! Uh...excuse me!" Fluttershy stated softly as we tried to find a spot at the front of the crowd. I remained close to her side, along with Kodiak before I heard a soft squeak from Fluttershy the moment we tugged ourselves into a spot. She received angry looks from some ponies of the crowd until the raptors hissed at them, scaring them.  We looked back at the stage, awaiting for this Iron Will guy to appear.

"So what do you guys think of this Iron Will?" Kodi questioned curiously. I thought for a while before shrugging and replied "Not sure. I guess we're about to find out."

"Well I hope that he can teach us to stop letting us be pushovers." Jamie muttered loudly, making me and Kodi to look at each other in worried. Jamie must really doesn't like being a pushover, does he?

Suddenly, loud music began playing and soon, the spotlight shined on the stage as smoke filled the area. Oh wow, this is just like when you're going to a concert, huh? Suddenly, a large Minotaur appeared on the stage, swinging and flinging his arms around as fireworks exploded on the stage.

"Whoa..." Kodi muttered in awe. The crowd was even was impressed by this as they began stomping their hooves, creating a lot of thumping sounds. The large Minotaur flexed his arms, displaying his muscles as he kissed each one tenderly.

"Uhh...?" Me and Jamie looked at each other in confusion and uncomfortable at what we were witnessing. I've seen a ton of characters on TV that liked to do that, but this...this is just weird when seeing someone kissing their muscles.

"Welcome, friends!" He announced as he walked on the stage. "My name is Iron Will, and today is the first day of your new life! I wanna hear you stomp if you're tired of being a pushover!" The crowd stomped their hooves, excluding me, Jamie, Kodi, and Fluttershy. "Stomp if you wanna pay nothing for this seminar!" Wait what? Actually, now that I think about...do we have to pay for this seminar? I never thought about that.

And it would seem that the crowd were generally confused by that before letting out some loud laughter. Iron Will looked at the crowd seriously and snorted loudly, causing them to immediately become silent.

"That's no joke, friends. Iron Will is so confident that you will be one hundred percent satisfied with Iron Will's assertiveness techniques, that if you are not one hundred percent satisfied, You. Pay. Nothing." Iron Will stated, causing me and Kodiak to look at each other in confusion about that. Why do I have this feeling like something is off about this seminar, including him? "But I pity the fool who doubts Iron Will's methods."

He faced directly towards a pony beside us and asked "You don't doubt me, do you?"

"U-uh, no sir..." He shook his head, having a scared and nervous look on his face, along with the crowd. Fluttershy held my arm tightly while Kodi leaned against my left arm while Jamie ducked in fear. I get it why they're scared. It's because of this Minotaur. He's quite tough and strong, but also scary to look at.

"That, my friends, is your first lesson." Iron Will announced as he stood on top of two anthro goats, but they had the expression that they weren't bothered by this. "Don't be shy, look at them in the eye!"

"Don't be shy, look at them in the eye...." I heard Jamie muttered, who was getting out of his ducking position. It seems like he's starting to get interested in this seminar, well that's a start.

“Now, to demonstrate that Iron Will’s techniques will work for anypony, I’m gonna need two volunteers.” Iron Will looked around the crowd as everypony raised their hooves up, except me, Kodi, Fluttershy, and Jamie, which the two duck their heads and hid behind me in fear. I gave them a reassuring smile and said “Don’t worry you two, I’m sure that you two are gonna be fine. Besides, it’s not like he’s not gonna choose you two because you two are too timid to do that.”

“You two!” Huh? I looked over to see Iron Will looking directly at me.

“Uh…us?” Kodi asked, putting his paw on his chest.

“Not you mutt, I meant those two behind the weird monkey freak!” Excuse me? Well actually, I’m used to ponies who aren’t friendly to call me names like that. “Get up on stage!”

“U-us?” Jamie asked timidly.

“Yes, you and the yellow pony! Iron Will wants you onstage!” He demanded, frightening them.

“Uh…well…” Fluttershy glanced away nervously, unable…No, too fearful to go up on stage, along with Jamie since these two have stage fright.

“Wait!” I called. “I’ll go! I mean, it’s just that-”

“What? No way!” Iron Will refused while he crossed his arms. “You’re no use! Besides, when Iron Will decides on something, he wants it! So you two get up here NOW!”

"Hey, me too!" Sarah called. 

"No!" Iron Will stated. Sarah growled and changed into her rage self which surprisingly didn't intimidate Iron Will, but impressed him. "Alright little human, you can come up along with those two." 

“Well…we got no choice, huh?” Kodi asked, realizing that there’s no way to get them from going. I let out a sigh and realized that they were right. I’m just…too worried for them. I let out a smile and said “Alright you guys, you can go. Besides, I know that you two will do great. After all, this is what you wanted, right?”

“Right.” Jamie and Fluttershy nodded in agreement before they and Sarah walked up to the stage, only to have a the two goats blocked their way. Sarah side stepped but the goat side stepped to, blocking her. She side stepped again and the goat did the same thing. Sarah growled a little and gave a hard nudge to the goat, knocking him down on his back. She gave a 'hmph' and the crowd clapped for her. 

Meanwhile with Jamie and Fluttershy....

“Umm…e-excuse me sir, c-could you please move?” Jamie asked politely, only to get a snort from him.

“Whoaa! He’s blocking your path! What are you gonna do it?” Iron Will asked.

“Um, politely walk around him?” Jamie guessed.

“No.” He shook his head before crossing his arms.

“Umm…Gingerly tip-toe around him?” Fluttershy suggested.

“No!” What? Those suggestions seem like good ideas to me.

“Go back home and try again tomorrow?” Fluttershy meekly smiled.

“Or give him what he wants?” Jamie shrugged, not directly looking at Iron Will.

“NO!” He yelled, causing the two to flinch while I was held back by Kodiak.

“Ren, don’t! It’s all part of the seminar, right?” Kodi reminded me, causing me to sigh and soon calm down. What was up with me just now? I’m normally calmed and friendly, I guess I was really worried for them, huh?

“When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!” He lightly pushed them towards the goat, causing the goat to fall down on the floor.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean to do that!” Jamie apologized.

“Don’t be sorry! Be assertive!” Iron Will said sternly. “’Never apologize, when you can criticize.’” He cleared his throat and then got into the goat’s face with a threatening look and said “Why don’t you watch where you’re going!”

He looked back at Fluttershy and Jamie and said “Now you try!”

“Uh…” Fluttershy and Jamie looked at each other in fear and worried before they turned back to the fallen goat man as Fluttershy said “Next time, get out of the way before…I bump into you, ‘cause…I totally won’t be sorry when I do!”

“Y-yeah! Or else y-you’ll…facing my problems?” Jamie suggested meekly. Iron Will let out a smirk before grabbing each of their hands/hooves and lifted them into the air and shouted “You see my friends! If my techniques can work for these shy little creatures, then they can work for anypony!”

I…guess that’s untrue. Maybe it could work, even on me. Soon, fireworks popped out of the stage and exploded as the crowd cheered. Fluttershy and Jamie looked at each other in awe before turning to me and smiled happily at me while me and Kodiak smiled back at them. You know what? What was I so worried about? This could actually work. Well I mean, they’re just going to be assertive, not that whole exploding in anger like a crazy lunatic.





Later

“Ren, did you see us? We were so assertive!”

“Yeah, I sure did Flutters. You and Jamie were great out there.” I smiled happily at them as we were back in Fluttershy’s cottage after we spend our time at the seminar. It wasn’t that long, so we came back and began discussing our opinions about the seminar we went through.

“Yeah, it looks like going to that seminar was a great idea, huh?” Kodi joked, which made Jamie smiled a bit.

“Y-yeah…maybe it was. I don’t have to be a pushover anymore.” Jamie stated confidently.

“Yeah, me too!” Fluttershy agreed. “Today is going to be a new day Ren! Just you wait!”

“Ha ha ha!” I laughed before smiling over them and said “Well alright you guys, let’s meet over with the others and see if you put those lessons to use then in case we bumped into rude ponies, huh?”

“A-Alright.” Jamie nodded, returning to his timid self.

“Okay.” Fluttershy smiled before kissing me on the cheek, causing me to chuckle. “Just let me feed the animals first and we can get started.”

“Okay!” I nodded as she flew out of the living room and headed to the kitchen to feed her animal friends.

“You know, I am quite excited to see how are things are gonna turn out tomorrow.” Kodi commented before turning to Jamie. “You sure you can do this, Jamie?”

“I-I’ll try…No, I will.” Jamie nodded, making a determined yet nervous look on his face. “I-I’ve been training with you guys, Mason, and Jack for a while and yet I only grew a little bit strong. Maybe going to Iron Will’s seminar was a good idea. I just want to defend and assert myself to those who might bully me.”

“Well don’t worry. We’re all gonna believe in ya, Jamie.” I chuckled, patting him on the back. “I mean, I understand that you might be afraid and always feel lonely, but we’re all gonna be by your side, Jamie. We’ll always stick together as a family.”

Kodi hopped onto my lap and licked me on my cheek, causing me to laugh while Jamie looked at us with a soft smile.

“T-thanks…” Jamie nodded with a meek smile, which made smile as well. Soon, Fluttershy flew back into the room with a determined look and said “Okay, I feel good. I feel ready to ‘attack the day’, as Iron Will says.”

She let out a giggle before turning back to us.“Ready or not, here comes assertive Fluttershy now!”

“And assertive Jamie!” Kodi added, causing Jamie to feel embarrassed before he clutch onto the book in front of his mouth to hide his blushing. “Come on Jamie, you should at least deserved that nickname.”

“W-well….I guess it’s alright…” Jamie nodded, blushing a bit.

“Now come on you guys, let’s go meet up with the others and tell them about how much assertive you guys became.” I chuckled with a grin while the other two felt a bit proud about that as we began exiting out of the cottage and went up to meet up with the others, only to encounter another elderly pony watering some plants with a hose.

“Umm…excuse me, Mr. Greenhooves?” Fluttershy called. “But I-I think you might be over-watering my petunias…” He gave out a light chuckle while Fluttershy sighed “…Again…”

“Let the professional handle it.” He replied, which caused us to raise a brow at him.

“But if he was one, why is he over-watering those plants?” Kodi whispered to me, which I shrug.

“Good question.” Jamie sighed as Fluttershy stepped up as she held a determined and angry expression on her face, which caught me off-guard a bit. Whoa, I’ve never seen her act like that for a long while, which was from when we first met Mason and Carrie.

She immediately put her hoof onto the hose, causing to overflow inside of it and as soon as it began not to spray water out of the hose, the old pony looked through it until Fluttershy let go of it and released the water, causing it to burst onto him. He coughed and sputtered "Well...perhaps that is enough water..."

"Thank you." Fluttershy smiled before we took our leave and went to cross a bridge towards town. I retained a shocked expression, along with Jamie and Kodi upon what she did as she became excited and exclaimed "I can't believe I did it!"

"Yeah, but was that really n-necessary to do that?" Jamie questioned. "W-wouldn't it b-been better to just take the hose away from him?"

"It doesn't matter you guys! I did it! I didn't stutter or held back like I usually do!" Fluttershy squealed in excitement.

"Well still, he was an old guy so it should be fair to treat him nicely instead of doing all that." I rubbed my head bashfully before we finally arrived to the bridge until we saw two ponies blocking our way with two large wooden containers that had garbage inside of them. "Showpony business is tough." The first garbage pony commented.

"Go ahead, try one of your jokes out on me. I laugh at everything." The second garbage pony smiled. Jokes? These two are trying to be stand-up comedians or something?

"Okay, okay, okay. A donkey and a mule are stuck on a desert island..."

"Umm...excuse me?" Fluttershy called. "Would you mind moving your carts so I can pass?"

"Yeah, yeah, in a minute." The first garbage pony said, waving it off before continuing on with her joke.

"B-but ma'am...we really need to get going." Jamie stated, twiddling with the pencil that was kept as a bookmark for his notebook. "So...could you kindly please move out of the way?"

"Yeah, in a minute." She said with a little force before turning back to her friend about the joke. I noticed a frown that Jamie had in his face before he said "When someone tries to block, show them that you rock!"

Jamie kicked both of the carts, causing them immediately to spill all over the place, much to the two garbage ponies shock.

"Ugh! Easy does it, dude. We're moving, okay?" The first garbage pony sighed irritably before moving out of the way for them.

"Good!" Jamie smirked while me and Kodi gaped at that. Oh my god, I've never seen him act like that before. First Fluttershy, now Jamie?

"I feel like we should stop this, Ren." Kodi said, feeling worried for our friends.

"Me too, but I can't stop them." I stated. "We promised to support them to the end no matter what. I...I don't want to let them down."

"Me too..." Kodi sighed before we followed after the two as we headed back towards Ponyville to see if the others approve of them being 'assertive'. Well I'm starting to have mixed opinions about this.

As we walked around the center part of Ponyville, a green coated pony with brown mane and tail bumped into Jamie, which made him form an angry look on his face.

"H-hey wait a minute! Why did you push me like that?!" Jamie demanded.

"Uhh...you were in the way first, pal." The pony responded with a nonchalant expression.

"First? 'First is for winners! Second is for wieners!'" Jamie exclaimed, getting into the pony's face with an angry look on his face.

"U-uh...Okay pal! I'm sorry! I'm going!" With that, the green pony immediately ran away in fear while Jamie smiled proudly at that.

"I don't believe it, it actually worked. I-I never said that before to anyone or anypony before." Jamie chuckled while me and Kodi felt worried for this, but Fluttershy was clapping her hooves at Jamie and muttered "Yay!"

I'm starting to worried that those two are gonna do something that they might regret because I don't want them to...never mind...





Later

Sooner or later, me and the gang arrived at Sugarcube Corner, where we stand in the middle of a long line, but eventually, the line started moving quickly. I was at the back of Fluttershy and Jamie was behind me, with Kodiak next to me as we waited to be called up next.

"Who's next, please, and what can I get for you today?" Pinkie called as we waited for our turn and once we get our desserts, we were gonna tell the gang about what Fluttershy and Jamie eventually accomplished. I heard a tap behind me as I looked back and saw that somepony slipped past me, Jamie, and Fluttershy, pushing the yellow pegasus back from that said pony.

Jeez, what's up with them? I know ponies and humans are quite similar with each other, but...I just can't help but feel like something is wrong here. I just can't figure out. After being around Ponyville for a year, you would think these ponies were really friendly, kind, and trustworthy. But right now, they're acting pretty strange. Well I think that they're acting pretty strange, but I'm sure you guys are probably thinking so too, right?

"What do you think you're doing?! Didn't you see us?!" Fluttershy exclaimed, forming an angry look on her face.

"Uh, I guess maybe." The pony shrugged, which made Jamie and Fluttershy feel anger rising up.

"Uh oh..." I muttered in fear. This isn't gonna go well, isn't it?

"Maybe? Maybe?!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"'Maybe is for babies!'" Jamie finished Fluttershy's sentence as the latter placed her hoof on the pony and spun her around, making her face their angry looks.

"Now go to the back of the line where you belong!" They both exclaimed.

The pony smiled nervously and began backing away, along with the others who were in front of us as they felt terrified upon seeing them like this. Fluttershy and Jamie flashed cocky smirks on their faces like they were enjoying this.

"Fluttershy, Jamie..." I muttered, now realizing that they're starting to become...jerks.

"Heyyy, look at you!" Pinkie exclaimed as we entered the shop and encountered the others. Rarity, Mason, Kaede, and Carrie were having tea while Jack was eating on a nearby table and ate some cake.

"Oh, your attitude is so feisty, it's fabulous." Rarity added, which the others nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't say 'feisty'..." I muttered, rubbing my arm bashfully.

"Thanks." Fluttershy grinned cockily.

"Yeah. We learned it from Iron Will's seminar." Jamie chuckled, flashing a small cocky grin. T-there is seriously something wrong with them!

"Iron Will? Ha! That's something I would've come up with!" Jack laughed, slamming his fist on the table.

"So this Iron Will person helped you both learned to be assertive?" Kaede questioned. "Huh, I gotta say that's quite impressive. I'm proud that you two are starting to finally getting assertive, huh?"

"I agree. You two are working hard." Mason smiled. "I'm proud of you two."

"T-thank you." Jamie smiled. "Iron Will may have been scary, like Jack when he gets angry...."

"Hey!" Jack yelled, highly offensive of that. 

"Don't lie!" Sarah exclaimed.

Jack growled. 

"But he's a great guy that helped us out." Fluttershy smiled.

"Yeah, he helped out too much..." I muttered, which Kodi overheard and nodded in agreement.

"Looks like that monster's workshop really paid off!" Pinkie grinned.

"Yeah! You two must've felt quite nervous going over there, right?" Carrie asked.

"A little, yes." Jamie nodded in agreement.

"But Iron Will's not a monster. He's a Minotaur, and a true inspiration. His techniques really work." Fluttershy chuckled.

"Well, they've certainly made a difference in the way you carry yourself. You truly are a whole new Fluttershy and Jamie." Rarity replied before asking "Although, how did you two ever learn about him in the first place?"

"Rantaro came by after you guys left and told us about Iron Will." I answered, which made the others surprised by this. "Don't worry. He was offering that seminar as a friend, not an enemy."

"Well I still don't trust that bastard." Jack scoffed.

"Well either way, I'm...surprised that he would help out." Kaede chuckled. "I guess you guys own his debt, huh?"

"Yes, yes we do." Jamie nodded with a smile, looking at his book with a grin. "And new Jamie feels pretty stoked about new Jamie."

"New Fluttershy agrees." Fluttershy nodded in agreement, which made feel uneasy about this. Did...those two said that in the third person?

"Why did you two repeat yourselves in the third person?" Kaede questioned, which the two shrugged.

"Well, old Pinkie Pie feels really proud of new Fluttershy. Proud as pink punch!" Pinkie brought out a bowl of pink punch onto the counter with a snort. "Want some?"

She fell down on the floor and started laughing with her face, along with the others. However, Jamie and Fluttershy both had angry looks, like they weren't amused by it.

"W-whoa whoa whoa! Flutters! James! They're not-" Unfortunately, I was too late as Jamie threw the bowl of pink punch towards Pinkie, and getting her wet. The others were shocked about this, even Pinkie.

"You laugh at me, I wrath at you" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"And nobody messes with new Jamie!" Jamie added.

"Oh my Celestia!" Kodi jaw-dropped as Jamie and Fluttershy kicked the doors out of the way and began going their separate ways with Jamie heading back towards the library while Fluttershy let out a whistle, calling in a taxi carriage, much to her joy. But as Fluttershy was about to hop on, another pony came in and jumped into the carriage, not even caring or even worried on what he just done.

"Nopony pushes new Fluttershy around!" Fluttershy exclaimed before jumping into the carriage and started beating up the pony, kicking him out and forced the taxi carriage driver to go. She then gave out a threatening look and exclaimed "NEVER!"

We all widened our eyes in shock, unable to believe that any of this was happening.

"No...way..." I muttered. This isn't happening, right? No way...Fluttershy...Jamie...have you two...change?

"Old Pinkie Pie is not so sure new Fluttershy is such a good idea after all." Pinkie commented.

"Old Rarity agrees." Rarity nodded in agreement.

"We gotta do something and fast before they go too far!" Kaede exclaimed.

"She's right!" I nodded in agreement with a worried and concern look. "I was starting to have doubts when they started testing out the lessons Iron Will taught them, but after seeing all that, I-I'm not so sure they're who they are anymore!"

"You're right. Let's split up and talk to them." Mason suggested. "Sarah, Me, Carrie, Jack, and Kaede will go and help Jamie. You, Kodi, Pinkie, and Rarity go over to Fluttershy. After all..." Mason turned to me with a serious look and said "You're the only one who can help her from her situation."

"...Okay." I nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll track Fluttershy's scent." Kodi assured with a confident grin before sniffing from the ground and began trailing Fluttershy's scent. "Alright! Follow me!"

Me, Rarity, and Pinkie nodded before we began following after him while the others chased after Jamie. Oh man, please Fluttershy! Please be alright!





Third Person POV

Fluttershy was seen in her house, talking to herself in a mirror with an with an excited but aggressive look on her face. Even her animal friends were terrified on seeing her like this.

"You got this, new Fluttershy! This day is yours! And nopony's gonna take it away from you! Am I right?!" She asked her animal friends with a cocky smirk on his face, but her voice was quite terrified as it cause the animals to faint in fear. Fluttershy let out a satisfied 'Hmph!' before exiting out of her cottage.

As she was about to leave, she noticed that her mailbox was filled up with letters, only to have the wrong addresses on them.

"What?!" Fluttershy exclaimed, taking the mail out of her mailbox. "He's delivered the wrong mail, again!"

She looked around before spotting the mailpony with oversize glasses taking out some mail out of his bag and putting them inside another pony's mailbox, only for them to drop on the floor. As he was about to leave, Fluttershy stepped in his way with an angry look on her face.

"Who-?!" Fluttershy glared angrily at him as she exclaimed "And new Fluttershy does not want the wrong mail delivered to her cottage."

"Ooh, did I mix them up again? So sorry about that." The mailpony apologized before taking out her mail. However, she got to his face, causing him to lose his oversize glasses as he widened his eyes in shock.

"'You apologize, I penalize!'" Fluttershy yelled, causing him to immediately run away. Only to get himself stuck inside of the mailbox somehow. She picked up a nearby stamp and placed it on his flank before she walked around and took her mail straight out of the mailpony's mouth.

As she begins walking and a mail carriage immediately coming out of nowhere and helping the poor fella out of the mailbox, Fluttershy was confronted by a tourist, who was looking at a map before he noticed her.

"Excuse me, do you know how to get to the Ponyville tower?" He asked curiously. She smiled and answered "Sure, you just-"

While she was talking, she accidentally dropped her mail into the dirty puddle, getting it all wet .

"AH!" Fluttershy gasped as the tourist commented "Oh, that's a shame!"

Soon, Ren, Kodiak, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie soon arrives to the scene as they witnessed Fluttershy angrily glaring at the tourist.

"'You make me lose, I blow my fuse!'" Fluttershy exclaimed before grabbing his camera and throwing him around before launching him into a hay stack and his camera hit against a bell straight from the Ponyville Tower, which made him happy since he finally managed to find it.

"F-Flutters?" Fluttershy turned back, only to be confronted by her special somepony and friends. Ren was in shocked, unable to process by anything on what just happened.

"Fluttershy! What are you doing?! That's no way to behave!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Didn't you see what he did to new Fluttershy?" Fluttershy reminded her as she continued "And he thought new Fluttershy was a pushover!"

"No Fluttershy! He didn't think of that!" Ren exclaimed.

"Ren's right, sweetie. He didn't. We saw the whole thing." Rarity stated. "We think that you and Jamie taken your assertiveness training a little too far."

"Really too far!" Kodi added, nodding in agreement.

"What?!" Fluttershy hissed, which frightened them a bit. "You just want new Fluttershy to be a doormat like old Fluttershy! But old Fluttershy is gone!"

"What?" Ren asked, his expression turning a bit pale. "No...Fluttershy! This isn't you!"

"It is Ren and I'm starting to like the new Fluttershy instead of old Fluttershy!" Fluttershy chuckled devilishly.

"New Fluttershy? Old Fluttershy?!" Pinkie gaped.

"What happened to nice Fluttershy? We want that Fluttershy back." Rarity pleaded.

"No, you all want wimp Fluttershy." Fluttershy scoffed. "You want pushover Fluttershy. You want do-anything-to-her-and-she-won't-complain Fluttershy!"

"That's not true! That's not we think Flutters!" Ren retorted, feeling a bit angry. "Please! We think of you as the best friend we never had! I think of you as the best girlfriend ever! You taught me about love and this...this isn't you!"

"He's right!" Pinkie agreed, holding her head as she held a dizzy expression as she said "Besides, too many Fluttershys to keep track of! Make it stop!"

"Things getting too complicated for your simple little brain, Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy chuckled in a taunting way.

"Now, stop right there!" Rarity said with a stern and serious look on her face. "Let's not let things descend into petty insults!"

"Why not? I thought 'petty' was what you're all about, Rarity." Fluttershy evilly grinned, flying into the air while Rarity gasped on what she said. Even Ren and Kodiak were shocked by what she said ? "With your 'petty' concerns about fashion."

Rarity looked at her with a shocked look before tearing up a bit.

"Hey, leave her alone! Fashion is her passion!" Pinkie exclaimed, glaring at Fluttershy.

"Oh, and what are you passionate about? Birthday cake? Party hats? I can't believe that the two most frivolous ponies in Ponyville are trying to tell new Fluttershy how to live her life when they are throwing their own lives away on pointless pursuits that nopony else gives a flying feather about!"

Ren and Kodi jaw-dropped in shocked, their expressions turning pale by everything they heard from Fluttershy. Even Pinkie Pie started crying, along with Rarity.

"Looks like nasty Fluttershy is here to stay!" Pinkie cried out.

"I cannot believe what that monster Iron Will has done to you!" Rarity exclaimed in tears before the two immediately ran away back to Ponyville, with tears in their faces.

"Iron Will's not a monster, HE'S A MINOTAUR!" Fluttershy yelled before flying down with Ren and Kodiak looking at her.

"No Fluttershy....you're...the monster..." Kodi muttered, which made Fluttershy upset upon hearing that.

"What you say?!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Flutters! Stop it!" Ren yelled out, causing her to look at him with a bit of a shocked look. Ren put a hand on his forehead as his expression turned darkened. "I-I...I can't...believe it. I thought those lessons really helped you, but instead...it turned you into a different pony! I-I...I don't even know you anymore!"

Fluttershy looked at him, seeing Ren tearing up a bit. She fell to her knees and looked at her reflection, realizing that her friends were right.

"I'm....the monster..." Fluttershy muttered, starting to tear up as well as a tear dropped down on the puddle. Kodi noticed this and nudged Ren, who pointed over to see the crying Fluttershy.

"Flutters..." Ren crawled towards her before hugging her, along with Kodiak. Fluttershy began whimpering and crying loudly before saying "I-it's all my fault! I-I'm a monster Ren! I-I...I...AHHHHHH!"

"It's okay Flutters! Don't cry! I'm sorry for what I said." Ren cried, letting tears out. Kodi saw this and began tearing up as well.

"Stop it you guys. When you cry, I cry too." Kodi cried, nuzzling his two friends as the two comforted each other, with Fluttershy finally realizing how wrong she said all those things.





Meanwhile

Jamie was seen walking over to the Golden Oaks Library with a confident and snarky look on his face while passing by some ponies, only to bump into somepony, much to his irritation.

"Hey!" Jamie called, only to get a scoff from the pony.

"Oh, sorry sir." The pony apologized, which wasn't enough for Jamie as he gave out an angry look at him.

"'Sorry for those who aren't truly worried!" Jamie exclaimed, pushing him into a barrel of water, getting himself wet before he got up and immediately ran away in fear.

Mason, Carrie, Kaede, and Jack arrived to the scene and saw Jamie making fun of the pony that fell into the water before he returned to his stroll.

"Jamie!" Kaede called, gaining his attention.

"Oh hey guys, I'm so glad to see you." Jamie smirked. "Can you believe that jerk just got in the way like that? Thank god that I managed to make him feel sorry for pushing me like that."

"We saw the whole thing." Mason said before he sternly crossed his arms and stated "However, that pony apologized and yet you pushed him into that barrel."

"Dude, that's messed up." Jack commented with a bewildered look.

"So what?" Jack asked with a cocky smirk, which surprised the gang. "He deserved it, didn't he?! I had the right to do that!"

"But Jamie, what you did was wrong!" Kaede exclaimed. "You went to the seminar in order to improve on being assertive, along with Fluttershy, but it's turning you two into the bullies yourself!"

"Oh please, like I need your speech!" Jamie scoffed. "Besides, since when you started helping out?"

"What?" Kaede asked in confusion.

"You rarely helps us because your only talent is to sew and yet you did nothing to help at all!" Jamie exclaimed, which made Kaede shocked by what was she hearing.

"N-no! That's not true! I help out, it's just that-"

"Just what?! It's because you have no useful skill?! No other talent?! Not even a loving family?!" Jamie yelled, which made Kaede cover her mouth in shock as she tried to hold back the tears.

"Jamie! That's enough!" Mason exclaimed. "You're going too far! This isn't you!"

"The old me is gone! He was nothing but a coward! All he ever did was back away and get yelled at! Well this new Jamie is ready to take on anything!" Jamie held a cocky smirk, which made the others feel shocked upon seeing this. "Alright Jamie, stop this right now." Sarah growled changing into her rage mode. "And what are you gonna do about, punk?" 

The four gasped in horror. Sarah growled, "You don't have to be a jerk to defend yourself. I mean look at me, I'm shy just like you but I have confidence in myself cause I know what I can do and you can do the same if you just give it a chance. Standing up for yourself isn't the same as changing who you are. You can put your foot down without being aggressive about it. I know you can." Jamie looked at Sarah before darkening his expression before letting out a whimper and started crying. Sarah, changing back into her normal form, and Kaede hugged him, along with Carrie, Mason, and Jack, who gave him a pat on the back to cheer him up.

"I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't...I didn't want this! I...I just wanted to be strong to help others...but instead...I only made things worse!" Jamie cried out.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it. No need to cry it out." Jack sighed, patting him on the back while Jamie continued to cry out in tears, unable to take back everything he said to them.

"It's okay Jamie. We know you didn't mean that." Carrie smiled, hugging Jamie.

"She's right." Mason smiled softly. "We know that you're a good person, Jamie. You just went too far, that's all."

Jamie let out a few whimpers and said "...T-thank...you...."

"Now come on, let's go home." Kaede said. "Maybe you need some rest and cool your mind off."

"...Okay..." Jamie nodded before getting up as the others took him back home while some of the ponies looked over there and wondered what was happening with that human boy. Unbeknownst to them, Rantaro was leaning against a wall, drinking a cup of Cappuccino in his hands with a solemn look on his face.

"...No need to hide it kid. I know how you feel about that..." Rantaro muttered before walking off.

POV Ends





The Next Day

Ren's POV

...Ugh, what the? Where am I?...Oh right. I'm back in my room. It was the day after Fluttershy and Jamie went too crazy with their assertive lessons. After I managed to make Fluttershy realize on what she has done so far, she cried so hard while me and Kodi comforted her. We decided to head back home to help comfort her more and I...allowed her to sleep with me. In fact, I heard the others brought back Jamie to his senses as he apparently cried so hard as well. They managed to bring him realize that everything he's been doing was wrong. So now, our two friends are now realizing that Iron Will's training was nothing more than a bad seminar to even take upon.

I was in my PJ's with Kodi sleeping on my stomach and Fluttershy sleeping next to me, causing me to blush madly. Man, this is quite embarrassing now that you're finally understanding love, huh? I think I've seen anime characters who fall in love with each other and unintentionally sleep with each other and make one of them feel embarrassed on doing this. Yep, I'm in that kind of situation now.

"Uhh...." Fluttershy slowly began waking up before noticing me sleeping next to her. "Oh! U-uh...good m-morning R-Ren."

"Heh heh...good morning Flutters." I chuckled, forming a little blush on my cheeks.

We both stared at each other, making things awkward between us. I cleared my throat while Fluttershy glanced away nervously at us, wondering what should we do now.

"Aaahh..." We turned around to see Kodiak letting out a yawn before getting up and shaking his body and opening his eyes, seeing Ren and Fluttershy together. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Hey there, boy." I smiled happily while Fluttershy giggled to see Kodiak not noticing this. "Oh boy, what a rough day yesterday, eh?"

"Y-yeah..." Fluttershy nodded, still feeling ashamed for all her actions. I noticed her discomfort before kissing her on the cheek and said "Don't worry Flutters, you just went too far, and so did Jamie. Now come on, let's go get some breakfast. I'm sure that we can forget what happened yesterday."

"Yeah." Kodi and Fluttershy nodded in unison before we got up as I headed into my room's closet and took off my PJ's and put back on my original attire before we headed out of my room and came into the living room and into the kitchen/dining room, where we encountered the others.

"Oh, good morning Ren...Kodi...Fluttershy." Kaede greeted, brushing her hair to make it look good again. The others were sitting down on the table eating pancakes. Jack immediately was eating a ten pancake stack since he's...you know.

"O-oh...good morning." Fluttershy greeted as we sat down on the chairs while I noticed Jamie looked really tired with tear stains over his eyes. God dang, he must've really cried so hard last night.

"O-oh...hey you guys." Jamie greeted with a weak grin.

"Hey Jamie..." I smiled a bit, hoping to cheer him up. Soon, there was that awkwardness again and it feels like that we're only making things worse than before. With that, I decided to speak up in hopes of making things better.

Unfortunately, I was too late as two of my friends spoken up.

"I'm so sorry everyone!" Fluttershy and Jamie apologized in unison before turning to each other and asked "What?"

I let out a chuckle at that while the others laugh at that.

"Hey, it's okay you two." Mason assured with a soft grin. "We know that you two didn't mean to say those things. Trust us, we know how you feel."

"Big brother's right, you know." Carrie nodded in agreement.

"But still...I still feel so horrible for all the hurtful things I've said." Fluttershy stated. "I just can't go outside with my running mouth anymore..."

"Same here." Jamie nodded before burying his face with his hands. "I'm not so sure if I can even stop all this..."

"Don't worry you guys, I'm sure that you two will." Kaede encouraged.

"And if it doesn't work out, then maybe you should go away." We all turned to Jack with deadpanned looks, who noticed it. "What? I'm just joking around."

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!

"Huh? Who could that be?" I thought aloud.

I headed over to the door and opened it, revealing two familiar friends of ours.

“Hello Ren, darling.” Rarity greeted while the others looked over and became surprised to see both Rarity and Pinkie, but no one was more shocked than Fluttershy and Jamie, who duck their heads down in fear. “We were wondering if anyone seen Fluttershy and Jamie?”

“Yeah! We just want to talk her.” Pinkie added.

“Well…” I rubbed my cheek in embarrassment, already knowing that Jamie and Fluttershy wouldn’t want anyone they’ve hurt to come over and see their faces.

“They’re hiding underneath the tables like little babies.” Jack said, causing us to give him deadpanned looks. “What? Isn’t that what they wanted?” Blue smacked him in his head with her tail. "OW! Hey!" Mason let out a frustrated sigh before turning back to Rarity and Pinkie as he said “Anyway, they’re not in the mood.”

“But…we need to talk to her.” Rarity begged. Fluttershy and Jamie poke their heads out of the table and Fluttershy said, “P-please! Just go away! Go away before nasty Fluttershy strikes again!”

Oh god, they’re using those crazy third person nicknames again.

“Oh, sweetie, we all said things that we regret.” Rarity apologized.

“Wait, we did?” Rarity asked with a raised brow, which made Rarity shushed her to be quiet.

“No, everyone’s right.” Jamie spoke up, his tone turning into fear. “We’re the only ones to blame.”

“But don’t worry, we’re never coming out of the home-ship again.” Fluttershy added, much to my shock. So they’re gonna stay up here in the home-ship and never show their face in Ponyville ever again? “Everypony will be a lot safer with us and our mean mouths locked away.”

“But you can’t!” Kodi exclaimed. “It’s not you guys’ fault!”

“He’s right. Blame Iron Will, he’s the one that made you guys go this far!” I nodded with a serious look on my face.

“And sweeties, Pinkie and everypony doesn’t blame, nor I do. You just received some bad advice from that Iron Will character.”

“Yeah! He’s the one that made you act super-duper nasty!” Pinkie exclaimed, which made the two duck their heads in pain while some of us gave her glares. “What I mean is, there are other ways to assert yourself besides yelling at everypony!”

“Yeah! What Pinkie said!” Kaede smiled towards them as she said “You both can stand up for yourself without being unpleasant about it.”

Fluttershy and Jamie both came out underneath the table and looked at each other in worried before Jamie said “I-I’m not sure we can. We’ve too far gone.”

“Whenever I try to assert myself, I become a monster.” Fluttershy added, lowering her head in shame until I came over and patted her on the back, making Fluttershy smile happily at that. The others came and comforted Jamie, who made a soft grin at them.

“Don’t worry, we’ll help ya!” Carrie smiled.

“Like we said yesterday, you two just need help.” Mason winked.

“And besides, you two aren’t monsters.” Rarity waved it off.

“No, but he is.” Huh? We looked over to see Pinkie looking out the window as we came over and saw a familiar Minotaur walking straight towards our home.

“Oh god no…” I muttered.

“What the hell is that?!” Jack exclaimed.

“That’s I-Iron Will!” Jamie exclaimed in shock. “B-but what’s he doing here?”

“Something tells me that he isn’t here for a friendly visit.” Mason narrowed his eyes at Iron Will while I held against my Hacking Gun in fear until we heard loud knocking. Everyone looked at each other in worried before me and Kodiak walked up and opened the door, encountering Iron Will at the door.

“Oh hey Iron Will.” I greeted with a nervous grin. “Funny to see you again.”

“Of course I do! ‘Whenever Iron Will goes, his legacy lives on!’” Well that’s quite boastful if I do say so myself.

“And who on Equestria is this?” Rarity questioned with a raised brow as some of the others came to join in with us.

“Iron Will’s my name, training ponies is my game!” He announced, flexing his muscles while we heard background music playing, which I noticed his little goat men were using a radio to play some song. Well this guy makes me feel like that he’s some celebrity or something.

“What a darling little catchphrase.” Rarity chuckled nervously.

“Your friends, Fluttershy and Jamie Watson loved Iron Will’s catchphrases!” Iron Will laughed. “Word on the street is that they don’t take no guff from nopony! So, Iron Will is here to collect Iron Will’s fee.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Mason questioned, his eyes widening a bit.

“You heard me! Iron Will is here to collect Iron Will’s fee from Fluttershy and Jamie Watson!” Iron Will clarified.

“Now hold on! I thought you were joking about that during the seminar!” Kodi said, glaring at the Minotaur. Iron Will bend down to his height and poked his nose before saying “’When Iron Will wants something, he gets it!’”

“Grr!” Kodi growled angrily while I glared angrily at him. Unbelievable! First he turned Fluttershy and Jamie into different pony/person, now he just wants to collect their bits from this guy?!

“Well you can’t.” Kaede said, feeling a bit scared and intimidated by his appearance. “Fluttershy and Jamie are in no shape to deal with you!”

“Yeah! They wouldn’t spend their money on a big bully like you!” Carrie exclaimed, which Mason held her back in hopes not wanting to start a fight.

“What’s that?” Iron Will asked in a threatening tone.

Rarity let out a small gasp before chuckling nervously and said “I’m sure a big, brave, powerful, and rich monster–I mean, minotaur like you doesn’t need that money right away. You can afford to come back later.”

“Are you kidding? Fluttershy and Jamie are overdue as it is. Iron Will collects now! I know they’re here in this little big spaceship! Now bring them out NOW!” He stomped his foot on the ground, causing a minor earthquake in our home as some stuff fell down on the ground and we held against the shake before looking at him with nervous, scared, and angry looks. I let out a gulp, realizing that he’s as stubborn as Jack, since these two won’t change their minds that easily.

“Now hold up, how can you be so sure they’re here?” Kaede questioned.

“Easy, I had some ponies telling me that they saw a bunch of humans talking with a blue haired teen and there was a lot of emotional stuff happening.” Kaede, Mason, Carrie, and Jack, who was with Fluttershy and Jamie to make sure Iron Will didn’t see them, sweat-dropped upon realizing that they made a scene from what I heard today. “And they told me they were heading back to where they’re living and it’s right here in this spaceship home place or whatever! Now where are they?!”

“Uhh…” I looked over to them, seeing those two were really frightened. I couldn’t let them deal with this guy! Not in a million years! “No way! We’re telling you where they off! And even if they were here, they wouldn’t pay you at all!”
“Yeah right, Iron Will will get his pay right now!” Iron Will demanded.

“No way!” I exclaimed, which made him snort angrily.

“Ren! Be careful!” Kaede warned.

“Ren, stay away from him!” Mason said, worried about what might happened to me.

“I can’t you guys! I’m not gonna let this guy hurt my friends just to collect some fee!” I stated, glaring at the minotaur, who glared back at me.

“Yeah! Why would they pay you money after you turned them into monsters!” Kodi growled while Iron Will barked up some laughter on what he said.

“Are you kidding?! Iron Will’s seminars’ helped them improve!” Iron Will boasted. “Iron Will made them into non-pushovers!”

“No, you turned them into jerks and bullies!” I retorted. “Jamie and Fluttershy just wanted to defend themselves and the rest of us, but thanks to your lessons, it made them turned…different. I like the old Fluttershy and Jamie because they’re always helpful, and kind. Fluttershy is the best friend a guy like me could ever ask because of her timid, shy, and kind personality that makes anyone can’t stay mad at…well, besides Rainbow Dash and Jack.” I could see Jack giving me a death glare on that remark before I continued “And Jamie…sure, he’s timid and a coward, but at least he tries his best to be brave and courageous. He never trusted us at first and was too scared to form bonds, but after a while, he started to accept us as his family. Hell, as his family. So if I were you, just leave and never come back. Please Iron Will.”

Everyone looked at me in awe and shock on everything I just said, and Iron Will felt shocked by this before glaring angrily at me.

“Iron Will don’t care about that little speech! Iron Will came here for one thing only: To collect Iron Will’s fee! So tell me where they are or else!”

“Or else what?” I asked, feeling a bit intimidated by him now. Oh crap, please don’t tell me that-

“Or else Iron Will will teach ya lesson about respect!” Iron Will threatened, raising his fist into the air while the others were shocked by this. Sarah growled and stepped in front of Ren. "Oh you want to take m on little girl?" 

Sarah smirked and she unleashed her Roar of the Elders at Iron Will, sending him and his goats and few feet away from the home-ship. Iron Will got up and saw Sarah staring at him with an angry look. Iron WIll's face turned red with anger. "Sarah! No!" Kodi cried. 

“Alright! You asked for it!” Iron Will prepared to throw a punch at her until both Fluttershy and Jamie stepped in front of her, forcing Iron Will to stop and his fist nearly made contact to their faces. Holy crap! I feel like what they did was a reference to something, am I right? I think it was somewhere in Danganronpa 3: Despair Arc, right? Anybody watched it before?

Iron soon formed a cocky grin and said “Well well well, looks like I don’t have to find you two anymore.”
He pulled out his hand and gestured to have his money, only to have both Fluttershy and Jamie looked at him with soft but angry glares.

“No.” Fluttershy answered.

Iron Will widened his eyes and sneered at the two before asking “What did you say?”

“No.” Jamie replied. “We aren’t gonna pay for someone that nearly tried to hurt my friend.”s

“Oooh, I’d hate to be you right now, because Iron Will is gonna to rain down a world of hurt unless Iron Will gets his money pronto!” He snorted down on their faces, causing them to cough a bit from the smoke coming out of him, but it didn’t make them back down.

“We said no and that’s final.” Fluttershy said with a soft and stern look on her face.

“As we recall, during your workshop you promised one hundred percent satisfaction guaranteed, or you pay nothing.”

“Well, we’re not satisfied.” Jamie crossed his arms, holding onto his notebook tightly.

“What do you mean you’re not satisfied?!” Iron Will exclaimed angrily. “EVERYPONY HAS ALWAYS BEEN SATISFIED!”

“Well, I guess we’re the first then.” Jamie stated. “But since we’re not satisfied, we refuse to pay. It’s simple as that."

The goats bleated in shock while Iron Will felt worried and extremely surprised upon hearing all this.

"Ohh, are you...sure you're not just a little bit satisfied? B-because maybe...we could cut a deal. I-I mean we're both reasonable creatures, aren't we?" Iron Will chuckled nervously.

"I'm sorry, but no means no." Fluttershy replied with a serious look on her face.

"She's right. You may be a great motivating person, but your reasons on doing the seminars are quite...uncanny. If I were you, I would leave please or else you'll be answering to my friends." Jamie stated, pointing over to us. Jack came over as he cracked his fists, Kaede, Rarity, Pinkie, and Carrie giving him glares, Mason taking out his bamboo pole, and me taking out my Hacking, along with Kodiak and the four raptors growling at him.

Iron Will looked at us for a while before forming a smirk and said "No means no, huh? Nopony's ever said that to me before."

"Uhh...what?" Kodi questioned.

"Huh...I gotta remember that one. That's a good catchphrase for my next workshop." Iron Will grinned.

"Just get the hell out of here before I'll show you real pain!" Jack exclaimed, cracking his knuckles. "And trust me, it ain't gonna be pleasant."

"Oh yeah? And who's gonna make Iron Will go, chubby?" Iron Will threatened, causing me to aim my gun at him and shout 'Link!'

A heart shaped beam was shot out of the hacking gun, hitting both Iron Will and his goat goons as they felt under the Hacking Gun's Link effect.

"Okay, how about this? Just leave and never ever come back and harm my friends ever again? Simple enough, eh?" I asked with a smile.

"Okay." Iron Will and his goons said in unison before exiting out of our home and began taking their leave for good.

"Phew, that was a close one." Kaede sighed before smiling over at me and said "Thanks for getting him out of there, Ren."

"Nah, you should be thanking Jamie and Flutters for that." I said, pointing to the two.

"W-who? Us?" Jamie questioned.

"Renny's right! You were amazing, Fluttershy! You totally stood up to that monster!" Pinkie smiled happily before she hugged her tightly, along with the rest of us.

"In fact, you didn't change at all! You were the same old Fluttershy and Jamie that we've always loved!" Rarity added.

"The one we missed." Pinkie added.

"Don't worry, old Fluttershy's back for good." Fluttershy assured with a soft grin.

"And so is old Jamie." Jamie chuckled, trying his best to hide his blush. He then form a frown on his face and said "I'm sorry I took the whole assertiveness thing too far."

"Me too. I feel so awful on everything I've said to you guys." Fluttershy glanced away sadly from us before I came over and hugged her, much to her surprise.

"It's alright you guys, we already forgiven you since yesterday. We know that you guys are good friends and didn't mean it." I assured with a grin. Fluttershy hugged me back while the others gave me a group hug as well.

"Thank you Ren." Fluttershy smiled before we ended our hug as she looked at me with a soft grin and asked "Friends?"

"Friends." We answered before we all started barking up laughter, happy to hear that everything's finally settled down.

"Meh, I rather taken that Iron Will guy in a fight." Jack scoffed. "Though I guess it would've been a fifty-fifty chance that I might've won."

"Possibly." Mason chuckled.

"Well I hope we all learned a valuable lesson, eh?" Kodi chuckled.

"Indeed." Fluttershy nodded before clearing her throat and began explaining about the lesson we learned today.

Dear Princess Celestia,
Sometimes it can be hard for a shy pony like me to stand up for myself, and when I first tried it, I didn't like the pony I became. But I've learned that standing up for yourself isn't the same as changing who you are. Now I know how to put my hoof down without being unpleasant or mean."

"And it's a good thing. I'll show it to Twilight when she comes back to Ponyville." Jamie wrote that lesson down in his notebook with a soft grin on his face. "Still though...thank you all for forgiving me...and Ren..." He turned to me with a soft smile and said "Thank you for thinking me as family..."

"No problem." I nodded with a grin.

"Well, it's still morning, what do you guys wanna do now?" Kaede asked.

"How about we watch some TV?" Carrie suggested.

"Well..let me go feed Angel at home and I can get started. He might be worried about me since I didn't come home last night." I nodded in understanding on what she meant by that as I said "Alright Flutters. Maybe we can watch some anime together after you're done with that."

"Okay, thank you Ren." Fluttershy chuckled before taking her leave while the others sighed in relief before Mason whacked Sarah on the head.

"Ow! What was that for?!" she exclaimed, rubbing her head. 

"THAT'S for nearly getting yourself killed." Mason said sternly before hugging her tightly and said "That's for standing up for Fluttershy and Jamie and helping them stand up to Iron Will."

"Oh, thanks." Sarah chuckled before feeling her shoulder being touched as she looked back to see Jack giving me a smile."You know newbie, you got some guts to stand up to a guy like that. It made me feel shocked by that too." Jack joked with a toothy grin. "You're okay in my book, newbie!"

"Hehe, thank you." Sarah blushed. Our girl is getting stronger everyday. Great.