“Okay, Opal, just breathe in now”, Fluttershy gave an instruction.
Opal did as she wished, while Fluttershy counted to three. “1, 2, 3. Now breathe out again.” The cat opened her mouth and let out the breath she just hold.
It was one of these days again. Rarity had asked Fluttershy to take care of Opal for the day because she was busy. A big festivity in Canterlot came up and some influential customers had ordered a couple of custom dresses and Rarity was already behind her schedule.
However, this was not the only reason. What most ponies didn't know, there was a second reason why Rarity left Opal in the caring hooves of Fluttershy sometimes:
Opal had a problem with aggressions.
Sometimes, it was just a hiss at Rarity when she came near to her, but sometimes it was also a furious attack that left Rarity with scratches all over her body. When Opal lost control, she was hard to stop, and no matter what Rarity tried, nothing could calm down Opal. She was desperated and asked Fluttershy for help one day, hoping that her ability to talk with animals and her caring nature would be enough to cure Opal's aggressiveness. And now, Opal was in Fluttershy's cottage again and it was time for another therapy session.
And there was a desperate need for one. So far, the target of Opal's fits was only Rarity and she was used to it and had the magic to prevent her from attacking her more. But today, Opal was attacking Sweetie Belle, leaving her with some terrible, bloody scratches in her face and the only reason why the incident didn't end up with a fatal injury, was because Sweetie closed her eyes on instinct after Opal had left the first scratch on her cheek.
Opal was so anxious and furious today that Fluttershy decided to begin with a breathing exercise. After Opal had breathed out, Fluttershy continued the exercise with her.
“And now breath in again, Opal, and hold it until I have counted to three.” Opal did it again and breathed out after Fluttershy had counted. Then Fluttershy repeated the exercise for a second time.
“Okay, and let's talk about what happened today”, Fluttershy said in her calm, kind voice after the exercise was over. She lifted Opal up, something she could do without ending up with scratches too now that Opal had calmed down a little, and sat down on her sofa, placing Opal at the other end of it, facing her. “Now,” Fluttershy began, “I'm sure you understand that it was not okay what you did to Sweetie Belle today.”
Opal turned her head defiantly to the side, a harsh “Meow” leaving her mouth. She showed Fluttershy very clearly that she didn't care, yet, she could see that Opal did understand.
“She could have ended up hurt badly and you know it.” Fluttershy's voice became stern.
Opal turned her head to Fluttershy again. She looked in her strict eyes for a moment and then began to tell her why she attacked Sweetie.
Fluttershy listened carefully to her report, nodding occasionally to show Opal that she did pay attention. After Opal had ended, a frown appeared on her face. “So, Rarity forgot to give you something to eat yesterday and she also forgot about the daily brushing of your fur and this made you so angry today that you lashed out on Sweetie Belle when she came for a visit and when she asked you why you're so grumpy, did I got that right?”
Opal just nodded, still a defiant expression on her face.
A sigh left Fluttershy's mouth. She had already feared that this was the reason for Opal's attack on the filly. When Rarity got really obsessed with work, she tended to just forget Opal or, even worse, to include her in her obsession in a way that Opal did not desire. Either Rarity forgot to give her something Opal needed like food, as it happened yesterday, or she misinterpreted Opal's complaints about her annoying, obsessed behavior as offer to help her, which left Opal more than once completely worn out. It was no surprise that this was stressing out the cat. It wasn't really Opal's fault that she acted that way. Fluttershy had thought on it to talk with Rarity about the reason for Opal's behavior, but so far she could not find the right words to make Rarity realize that she was responsible for Opal's aggressions.
The only thing she could do right now was to make damage control by teaching Opal how to deal with the stress and anger that Rarity caused in her. And now the most important thing was to teach her that she shouldn't vent her anger over Rarity on other ponies who are not at fault for her misery. And that was exactly what she told her.
“I can understand that you got angry after Rarity forgot about you. I would also get angry if somepony would not pay attention to me and act like I'm not here”, she began. “But you can't attack other ponies and hurt them because of that. It's not the fault of other ponies that Rarity treated you wrong and you can't just punish them for something they haven't done.”
Opal was listening to what Fluttershy said and she knew that the yellow pegasus was right, but she still didn't wanted to admit that she made a mistake and so she pretended to not having paid attention, demonstratively licking her paws.
Fluttershy interpreted her ignorant reaction as still being a symptom of her anger. She got up from the sofa and trotted over to a phonograph. She switched it on and put on some soothing music in hope this would finally put Opal fully at ease. Then she walked back to the sofa and took seat opposite of her again. The white cat began to purr and laid down, bringing herself in a more comfortable position. Fluttershy smiled satisfied. Now her session would have more success!
“Now, I'm sure you still remember what I said to you the last time after you attacked Rarity, about what to do when you're really angry, right?”, Fluttershy returned to the topic at hoof.
Being calm now, Opal answered and explained her Fluttershy's suggestion from last week.
“Right. When Rarity gets obsessed again and you get angry you just leave the boutique and take a walk”, Fluttershy confirmed. “But you have not done this yesterday. You just gave in to your anger and stayed there until it erupted. And Sweetie Belle was the victim who got hit when you couldn't contain your anger anymore.”
It was just now that the realization what she had done hit Opal completely. Her anger and her anxious state suppressed it so far, but now she felt guilty for attacking Rarity's little sister.
Opal never hold any grudges against Sweetie Belle, especially not for things she hasn't even done. In fact, she really liked Sweetie Belle. Sweetie often cheered her up when she was sad or when Rarity didn't have time for her, just by playing with her when she came over to the boutique to see her sister and to spend some time with her. And now an attack on her for something she wasn't even at fault for was how she had thanked her that care.
Opal hung her head. She buried it between her paws and closed her eyes.
Fluttershy knew that it was wrong what Opal did, but the unfortunate event also made her realizing something.
Telling Opal that she should just go outside for a walk when Rarity was in her obsessive state was a good advice, but what if this wasn't possible for Opal for some reason?
“It was not right from you that you didn't follow my advice”, Fluttershy began to talk again to the guilt-ridden cat, “but I can also understand that you have to work off your anger sometimes. And there is a way to do that.”
She reached behind the sofa and pulled out a model that was shaped like a pony, similar to the clothes horses Rarity used in her boutique to measure how good the dresses she made would fit a pony. Taken a closer look it could be seen that the clothes horse was exactly shaped like Rarity. Only the size differed, as it was smaller than her. Fluttershy placed it on the sofa between her and Opal.
Opal opened her eyes again and began to inspect the Rarity doll. She sniffed on it and then extended her claws. She rammed them into the clothes horse to test it out and ripped something off of the fabric it was made of. A wooden surface turned up underneath it.
“When you're angry the next time and you can't do anything else to let go of it, you can use this to vent your anger”, Fluttershy explained.
Opal looked unbelievingly at Fluttershy. Such a violent solution to deal with her anger was something that she had not expected from the kind and timid pegasus.
“You can destroy it was much as you want, I let it made especially for you. This is better than attacking Rarity and if you have destroyed it completely I have another one here.”
Opal was still not sure, but Fluttershy looked serious and a try couldn't hurt. So she decided to use it as Fluttershy suggested.
The bell from the Ponyville clocktower rang suddenly. Fluttershy looked up. “It's almost time for you to go back to Rarity, but before our session is over, there is one more thing that I want you to do.”
After getting asked by Opal what it was, she just smiled mysteriously. “Just wait a little longer, you will see soon. There's a pony you should talk to and I await it any moment.”
Some moments later, it knocked on the door. Fluttershy left her seat and trotted up to it. She opened it and let the pony that was waiting outside into her cottage.
“Hi Opal!”, a familiar voice chimed into Opal's ears before she could take a look at Fluttershy's visitor. It was Sweetie Belle. Her face was full of patches that made it hard to recognize her, one of them even closely above her right eye, but her characteristic smile was still adorning her face.
Opal was flabbergasted to see her here now and froze.
Sweetie Belle walked up to her, Fluttershy at her side. “Fluttershy said you want to talk with me”, Sweetie Belle explained the reason for her visit.
“That's right”, Fluttershy endorsed it to her. “After what you did you should really apologize to Sweetie Belle”, she said with a slightly stern voice.
That was something Fluttershy didn't need to tell Opal twice. The white cat got up, approached Sweetie and buried her face into Sweetie's while purring loudly. A silent “Meow” followed, which meant “I'm sorry.”, but that only Fluttershy could understand of course. Then she licked, carefully to not detach them, over the patches in Sweetie Belle's face.
Sweetie responded by just giving her a tight hug, wordlessly expressing that she forgave her.
Fluttershy smiled. Now that this was settled, she could come to the last part. She had arranged something that could make Opal's life with the obsessed fashionista a bit easier, until she had figured out how to talk to Rarity or until Opal had learned to cope with Rarity's behavior without having raging fits, whatever came first.
Sweetie released Opal from her hug. “Fluttershy has good news for you!”, she said to her.
Fluttershy gave Opal, who looked surprised at her, a nod. “That's true. I talked with Sweetie Belle before you came here and explained her everything. She will from now on check if Rarity takes good care of you when she comes over and if Rarity should forget about you again, Sweetie will give you what you need instead.”
Sweetie nodded. “Mhm! I know how it feels when Rarity has no time for you, but I will have time for you!”, she assured her.
Opal's eyes sparkled from gratitude and now it was her turn to give Sweetie a hug. Sweetie responded the hug and then put Opal on her back.
“But now we have to go”, she said. “I'm sure Rarity is already waiting for us!”
The thought to go back to Rarity made Opal not happy, but now that Sweetie Belle would assist her big sister in taking care of her, Opal was sure that it will be easier from now on.
Sweetie Belle turned around and galloped up to the door. “Bye Fluttershy!”, she shouted and then she stormed out of the door, back to Rarity's boutique.