//------------------------------// // Chapter VI - Facing Your Fears. (Monday.) // Story: Germophobe (ON HIATUS) // by Ribgf //------------------------------// Germophobe Chapter VI - Facing Your Fears. (Monday.) It was monday afternoon. Rarity was in her boutique working on the dress from last night. She was nervous. In a few minutes, Pinkie Pie would come and get here to do something fun. Rarity hoped that didn't involve cotton candy or other sticky things that the pink mare would call 'food'. The fashionista could barely sleep. She was really grateful for what her friends came up with, but that doesn't just take away anxiety. So, she also hoped that Pinkie Pie didn't come up with something too exhausting. Rarity was deep in thought, thinking about what was going to happen in a few minutes. Causing her to lose her concentration. She took a brake, her friend would come and get her any minute now anyway. As she walked down the stairs of the boutique, the sound of somepony knocking loudly on the door was heard. Rarity sighed, walked down the stairs, over to the door and opened it with her magic, showing the excited pink party pony hopping in front of her door. "Hi Rarity!" "Good afternoon, Pinkie Pie." She said, forcing herself to put on a smile. "Are ya coming?" The tension in Rarity's chest got worse and her heart was racing. "Y-yes." Rarity walked outside, closed the door with her magic and stepped into her trusty boots. They looked awful, but she didn't really care anymore. She could buy an actual good looking pair, but the thought never came up, since was always thinking actual problems. She found the pair in her closet and thought that it would come in handy and it did. "You're nervous aren't you?" Pinkie asked with her unusual sad sounding voice and stopped hopping while they were on their way to whatever the party pony had in mind. "Yes. Yes I am." Rarity simply answered. "You're a really tough mare, Rarity. How somepony can you live in such an anxiety is a mystery to me. But anyway...don't be nervous!" She exclaimed, snapping back into her usual happy mood. "So, where are we going?" The unicorn asked, in her mind hoping that the party pony didn't have anything 'dirty' in her random mind. "We're going for a walk in the whitetail woods!" Rarity eyes got huge and felt the panic dashing through her body from head to hindlegs. "Wh-what?" She muttered out as she stopped in her tracks. "Remember my song, Rarity." Pinkie Pie replied, also stopping. "Rarity, you've gotta stand up tall. Learn to face your fears. You'll see that getting dirty can't hurt you. Just laugh and make your fears disappear. Ha, ha, ha!" "Pinkie!" Rarity whispered loudly, sounding annoyed. "Not everypony needs to know!" "Oops! Sorry. But, anyway, come on, it'll be fun. We can talk about anything you want." "Ugh...Alright." The fashionista reluctantly replied. Pinkie still was giving up her free time for her to help her. They continued walking, well... and hopping to the Whitetail Woods. Rarity told Pinkie that she only wanted to talk about her problems there, so nopony else could hear them. So, on the way there, no word was spoken. After a few minutes of walking and hopping, they arrived there and Pinkie already began talking about the unicorn's problems once they stepped into the mud. "What do you feel right now?" She asked Rarity seriously, who was struggeling with the mud on her boots. "The need to clean this boots, and as always, to shower." "And why do you feel those things?" "Cleaning the things that are dirty for me is the only way for me to stop thinking about it." "And what if you don't perform your cleaning rituals?" "Then...my... my anxiety just gets too high and get I panic attack." "Why?" "I don't want to be dirty!" "What do you think will happen if you don't perform your rituals?" "I......am afraid that I...will just live in fear for the rest of my life." Pinkie sighed and reluctantly tackled the unicorn by sticking one hoof out in front of her. Rarity fell into the mud, causing it to splash into the air. "Pinkie!!" yelled the mud-covered, laying fashionista. "Why did you do that!? "I am so sorry....but.........what do you feel now?" "Anger towards you! And the need to shower, very badly!" She exclaimed, then groaned and stood up. "Rarity, the one and only way to solve this is to face your fears, nopony is saying that it's easy. Better to do it begin with it now, since it can take a long time before you will even have your medication and therapy." There was a long silence between the two until Pinkie broke it after a few minutes later. "It's the only way, Rarity." Pinkie said, even more serious. " For example, if you come home later, don't shower and just sit on your sofa. What do think can happen?...... Nothing, at all. Just say: 'Go away' to your fears and they will. They will come back later, but you have to keep on doing it. It can take months, but it'll worth it...don't you think?" Rarity's anger dissapeared from her body and mind, but not the huge amount of panic dashing through her, causing her to hyperventilate. "That is........easier... said than done." "Breathe slowly, Rarity. Please, just relax. "How do you.... know so much about this, Pinkie Pie?" The white-coated unicorn asked as she tried to breathe slowly. "I got a book about it from the library." She explained, sounding like herself again. " I wanted to understand Mysophobia more. And everything I just said stood in there." "Well....thank you for the interest, I guess. Shall we walk further?" She reluctantly asked the party pony while wiping the mud from her coat, trying her best to ignore her thoughts. "Yeah, sure! Sorry again for the tackle." "It's....fine." __________________________ "So, how did it go?" Twilight asked as soon as she saw the pink pony enter the library. Twilight and the others all agreed to meet in the library before dinner time to talk about how it went. "Good, I think. I did what you asked, she didn't like it ofcourse...but I hope it opened her eyes a bit." She replied as she joined the table. "So, what does she think will happen if she doesn't perform her routine?" Rainbow Dash asked curiously. "She is afraid that she will have to live the rest of her life in fear." Pinkie Pie answered sadly. "Ah really wonder what made her think this way, this is really bad." Applejack said, a bit flabbergasted. "Well....um." Fluttershy began. "Rarity said that she didn't know it herself." "Maybe because she is hiding something". Twilight brought up. "Fluttershy, try to find out tommorow. We'll meet here again same time." "Got it." The timid pegasus answered.