(A/N: Yikes! Sorry. Long chapter. Er... enjoy? Hopefully, you appreciate more content, amirite? Also, this chapter took me an hour to write. Just... I'm going to go to bed now. I don't know what my crazy ass is doing awake. Goodnight, everyone! Love ya'll!) 

   Once more, Rarity sat at her usual lunch table along with her friends. She smiled at them. "So... good news! I signed up for recovery therapy with my parents last night!"

   Rarity's friends looked immensely relieved and exchanged smiles with one another.

   "That's great, Rarity," Sunset Shimmer said. "We're glad you're taking the steps to getting better."

   "I hope to see a smile on your face again!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She paused as she realized that Rarity looked confused. "A genuine one, I mean."

   Rarity was touched. "Aw, thank you, Pinkie. And I'm glad that you girls are so understanding. You've all been so thoughtful. How can I ever repay you?"

   "You don't need to repay us, Rarity," Twilight told her. "That's what friends do."

   The rest of them nodded and made sounds of general agreement.

   As lunch continued, the topic of the conversation began to shift over to the Fall Formal. It was only a month away and all of the girls were excited for it.

   "Are you planning on asking anybody?" Sunset Shimmer inquired. "I hear it's girl's choice this time. Flash and I are on good terms again and I'm going to ask him if he wants to go as friends."

   "I didn't have anybody in mind," Twilight replied. "I was just hoping to go to the Formal and spend time with all of you."

   "And we'll spend plenty of time together, don't ya worry," Applejack said. "But if you do find someone you wanna ask, don't let us stop ya."

   Twilight giggled. "I won't."

   Pinkie Pie put her hand upon her chin and gazed down at the table. "I mean, there is someone that I want to ask, but... I don't know what to say."

   "Well... what's his name?" Rarity wondered.

   Pinkie Pie blushed. "Actually... she's not even a... boy."

   "There's a girl you'd like to ask?" Rarity said.

   "And there's nothing wrong with that," Applejack said, quickly. She smiled at Pinkie. "What's her name?"

   "I'm... not actually comfortable with saying that right now, but... she's adorable!" Pinkie Pie said with a giggle. "She's got the cutest smile and the cutest little wrinkle in her nose when she laughs. She's also got really beautiful eyes and her hair is just... perfect! Like, how do you get hair like that? I want hair like that, girlfriend!"

   The rest of Pinkie Pie's friends laughed, excluding Twilight. Twilight gave Pinkie Pie a distant smile. Rarity noticed that Twilight looked bothered, but decided not to say anything.

   "Well hope you end up asking her, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said. "She sounds like a pretty cool gal."

   Pinkie Pie giggled. "Thanks, Rainbow."

   "Anywho, yeah, Fall Formal sounds like a mighty good time, but it's a month away," Applejack said. "We've got time to prepare. We'll talk about it later."

   "Yeah, I'm not all that interested in going to the Fall Formal anyway," Rainbow Dash said.

   "You aren't?" Fluttershy asked. "Oh, I think it would be nice."

   "Well, it'll be cool and all," Rainbow Dash added. "I want to spend time with you girls. But mostly going for the food table."

  "Honestly? Same here," Applejack replied.

   The girls laughed at that. After the laughter died down, the subject began to wander away from the Fall Formal and onto a different topic.

   As the rest of their friends continued to chat, Applejack turned to Rarity and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, ah'm proud of ya for going through with this. Ah hope it all works out for ya."

   "Me too," Rarity replied with a smile.

   As Applejack turned back to the group, Rarity felt her face grow warm and her heart started to beat fast. She knew instantly that a new feeling was growing inside of her, but she didn't recognize it as one she had felt before.

   Pinkie Pie was entertaining the group with her jokes and witty humor. She never failed to make anybody smile. Pinkie cracked a particular joke that made the group burst into laughter. However, as the group enjoyed the laughter, Rarity noticed something she hadn't noticed before. Twilight had a wrinkle above her nose when she laughed.                                                                                             

                                                                                     ***   

   Rarity was on her way to her first therapy appointment after school. As nerve wracking as it was, she knew it would help her in the long run.

   After she pulled into the parking lot and made her way into the building, she saw a lady on the computer sitting at the front desk. She was intent on finishing what she was doing, but when Rarity approached the desk, she looked up and gave Rarity a friendly smile. "Hello. May I help you?"

   "Yes," Rarity replied. "I'm here for my four-thirty appointment?"

   "Ah, yes," the receptionist said. "What's your name?"

   "Rarity."

   "One moment." She typed up Rarity's name on the computer and pulled up the files. "Okay, from my understanding, you've done all of the paperwork online?"

   "Yes, I have."

   "Wonderful," the receptionist said. She looked closer at the files. "Okay, looks like you'll be doing recovery therapy with our mental health specialist. She'll be out in a moment. Would you like to have a seat right over there?"

   "Yes, thank you!" Rarity said.

   Rarity walked over and sat down on one of the cushioned seats. She fidgeted nervously as she waited. Am I really about to do this?, she thought. What if it doesn't work? What if I still don't look how I look after the therapy? Can I ever truly be happy with what I see in the mirror ever again?

   Rarity's thoughts wandered back to lunch that day. She remembered how she had felt around Applejack. No, it can't be that, can it? I've never had a crush on any girls before, so why would I have a crush on another girl now? And Applejack of all girls? We're just so... different. Why would I like Applejack?

   However, Rarity smiled to herself. There were plenty of reasons to like Applejack, despite their differences. Applejack had been so caring and helpful throughout the whole eating disorder incident. She'd gone the extra mile just to make sure Rarity was taking care of herself. She had gone to Rarity's favorite restaurant and baked something for Rarity to eat, so Rarity wouldn't have to go through the trouble of finding something. She could look past their differences. After all, it was what made their friendship so strong. Despite Rarity not knowing if she liked Applejack as anything more than a friend, Applejack's concern for her still made her smile.

   A new voice jarred Rarity from her thoughts. "Rarity?"

   Rarity looked over to see a tall woman dressed in a sky blue t-shirt, royal blue jeans, and black sneakers with white laces. She had an off-green skin tone, light brunette hair, and grassy green eyes that reminded her of Applejack's. It would be easy to trust her therapist if she could think of Applejack.

   Rarity smiled as she followed the woman back to a room with a sofa and a chair. Rarity gladly took the sofa and the woman sat in the chair.

   "Hello, Rarity," she said. "My name is Tender Soul. Today, I'll just be asking questions to get to know more about you and maybe I'll even explain a few coping skills. You're here for the recovery therapy, correct?"

   "Yes," Rarity replied with a nod.

  "Alright," Tender Soul said, pulling out a notebook and pen. "So how old are you?"

   "Seventeen. I'll be graduating high school this year."

   "Oh, that's exciting!" Tender Soul said with a warm smile. "How is school? Do you like your classes?"

   "Yes, I like my classes just fine. I'm able to understand most of the time, but I do struggle a little with math."

   "Well... I mean, who doesn't struggle with math?" Tender Soul asked with a light-hearted giggle.

   Rarity returned the giggle. "That's true."

   "Do you have friends there?"

   "Yes, I have six wonderful friends at my school. Their names are Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and..." A smile crept across her face. "Applejack. We also hang out outside of school all the time."

   "Most definitely," Rarity said. "I always feel like I can be myself around them and they're some of the most uplifting people I have ever met."

   "Oh, I'm glad to hear that! Well... in that case, how is your home life?"

   "Oh, my home life is wonderful as well! I have two loving parents who try their best to care for me and a little sister named Sweetie Belle whom I just adore."

   "Good. How's your relationship with your father?"

   "My... relationship with my father isn't quite developed. I love my father, but we haven't spent a lot of time together. We don't have that much in common. He's a sports guy. I'm all for the fine arts, especially design and fashion culture."

   "Well it's good that it's not bad. But perhaps you'd benefit from developing a relationship with your father?"

   "Maybe so."

   "Speaking of, what about your mother? How's your relationship with her?"

   "It's quite similar to my father and I's relationship actually. We don't spend much time together because we don't have a lot in common. She's adventurous and loves to explore and travel, but I'm very much an indoor person."

   "So maybe developing parental relationships would be beneficial for your mental health, but it is all about what is best for you. How's your relationship with your sister?"

   "My sister and I happen to be very close. We do a lot of things together. Sometimes, we do what I'd like to do and other times, we do what she likes to do. We always have fun!"

   "Well that's wonderful! Your sister sounds like an amazing companion. However... let's talk about you. Do you have a history of depression?"

   "No. I've always been quite happy for my entire life."

   "How about anxiety?"

   "Not that I recall."

   "Any other mental disorders that you think you've struggled with?"

   Rarity sighed. It was time to tell her therapist what she had been going through. "I'm here to recover from an eating disorder. I don't know what eating disorder it is, but I'm terribly afraid of gaining weight. I've been restricting my calories and exercising more frequently. I like to think that I'm trying to be healthy, but everybody was worried about me, so they recommended that I sign up for therapy. Actually... pleaded."

   "Sounds to me like you're struggling with what we call 'anorexia nervosa' or more commonly known as simply just 'anorexia'. It's an eating disorder where the affected has a fear of gaining weight, so they resort to things as drastic as extreme dieting, swearing off of food for certain amounts of time, overexercising, and maybe even not eating entirely. Food becomes all they can think about. It turns into an obsession. Does... any of this sound familiar to you?"

   Rarity's heart sank. "Yes," she replied, softly.

   Tender Soul set her notebook and pen aside. "Rarity, for your first day, I'd like to introduce you to the method we'll be using throughout your recovery."

   "I'm ready," Rarity said. She didn't know if she was, but she forced herself to say the words anyway.

   Tender Soul rose from her chair, grabbed a dry erase marker, and began to write on a whiteboard on the wall of the room.

   The whiteboard now read:

   R- Reclaim Your Life 

   E- Embrace The Challenges

   C- Climb To New Heights

   O- Openness To Overcome Obstacles

   V- Variety of Treatments

   E- Exchange Unhelpful Coping Skills For Helpful Skills

   R- Relish In Your Accomplishments

   Y- Yearn For Today In Place of Yesterday

   "Alright," Tender Soul said. "Recovery. R-E-C-O-V-E-R-Y. That's not referring to how you spell the word. Those are the steps. Can you tell me what the first 'R' stands for?"

   "Reclaim your life."

   "Great! The first step to recovery is to reclaim your life. Let me tell you a little more about what that means. Reclaiming your life means to take charge of your mind again. It's teaching ourselves that our thoughts don't have to have the power to control us unless we let them. You may not be able to make the thought go away and you may not be able to change how you feel about it- that's okay. But we can control how we react to our thoughts. That's called 'coping'. There's unhealthy coping and there's healthy coping. Once you reclaim the ability to react to your thoughts in your way, you have successfully reclaimed your life." She smiled as she pointed to the next step. "Now what does the first 'E' stand for?"

   "Embrace the challenges."

   "Right! Recovery isn't easy. If everything in life was handed to us on a silver platter, nobody would be suffering from mental disorders because we'd never need to face the challenges that come with them. Beating your own mind is quite a challenging thing. You've created all these fears and all of these rules for so long that breaking them almost feels like... a shock to your system! Something is going to want to pull you back to the way you've been doing things. You have to accept that those voices in your head won't go away that easily. You have to not just accept the fact that it'll be hard to recover. You have to embrace it. And that's not simple. In fact, it can be frightening to embrace the fact that you're struggling. But it'll make you more at ease with yourself and what you're going through."

   Rarity nodded. "I understand."

   Tender Soul smiled reassuringly. "What does the 'C' stand for, Rarity?"

   "Climb to new heights."

   "That's right! Sometimes when we're stuck in an eating disorder, it can feel like there's no way out of the darkness. Sometimes, our minds make us think that what we've been doing to ourselves is the only way to accomplish happiness and be happy with ourselves. To fully reach recovery, you'll have to climb out of that state of mind and things are going to want to drag you back down to rock bottom. You'll have to tell yourself that you want to be happy and resist the voices trying to counteract it. But you can do it. Facing the obstacles is difficult, but realizing that you're strong enough to handle them goes a long way."

   Tender Soul pointed to the next letter. "Now for the 'O'."

   "Openness to overcome obstacles."

   "Just because these trials are difficult doesn't mean that we can't try. There's embracing those obstacles and climbing to the point where we can start facing them, but then there's actually pulling through those trials. You're still going to have to work hard to go the extra mile. It takes effort and time and relapses will happen. That's okay. You're not going to be perfect. Nobody is. All that matters is that when you fall, you get back up and try again. Can you tell me what the 'V' is?"

   "Variety of treatments."

   "Good. Now not every treatment works for everyone. That's why we have to have a variety of different treatments for those who need it. Your best option is to find what works for you. I assume you can do that, right?"

   Rarity nodded. "Definitely."

   "Perfect! Now for the second 'E'."

   "Exchange unhelpful coping skills for helpful skills."

   "So like I was talking about earlier, there's unhealthy coping mechanisms and healthy ones. We're going to need to swap those unhealthy mechanisms for some healthier ones that lead to a better, healthier you! We'll get to those later. Now what does the second 'R' say?"

   "Relish in your accomplishments."

   "Right! When you overcome an obstacle, it's something to celebrate! You have every right to feel joy after overcoming something that's difficult for you. Relishing in the joy of how far you've come is sure to boost your confidence and help you to feel happier in general. Now all we have left is the 'Y'."

   "Yearn for today in place of yesterday."

   "This is our finishing point. As soon as you begin to feel like your old self again, relapses might become a lot more sneaky. They might try to catch you off-guard at the worst possible times. You can avoid these relapses by facing forward rather than backward. Instead of looking back at your dark past, look forward towards your brighter future! Think of how much happier you feel and how eating makes you stronger and healthier."

   "Wow... do you really think I can do all of this?"

   Tender Soul sat back down and looked at Rarity with a smile. "Of course I do! It's going to take awhile, which is why we'll check your progress every week. When you feel you're starting to do better, we can switch to every other week. Then when you feel even better, we might begin to do once a month. Are you ready to start going down the long path of r-e-c-o-v-e-r-y?"

   Rarity took a deep breath. This time, Rarity responded as if a flame had awakened in her soul. "You know what? I am." 

(A/N: Oh. My. FUCKING. God. So I was up for a whole extra hour just revising this chapter because when I copied it from my Google Docs onto Wattpad, I accidentally copied it all into bolded text because of my author's note, so I tried to highlight the entire chapter to turn it back to normal text, but it wouldn't let me because Wattpad is a butt! So I had to go through every. single. goddamn. paragraph. and turn it back to normal text. Not to mention the fact that I also had to indent all of the paragraphs and I accidentally kept pressing the copy button instead of the bolded text button, so I accidentally kept pasting the same paragraph in extra places! 

But hallelujah, praise the Lord, I'm finally done and I can go to sleep! Please, for the love of God, enjoy this long chapter because you ain't gettin' another one.

In all seriousness though, despite how angry I sound, I'm pretty chill right now. I'm feeling rewarded from finally getting through this whole mess. Ya know, embrace the challenges, climb to new heights, and openness to the obstacles! Now I'm going to yearn for this chapter to be posted instead of looking back on revising this whole thing. Okay, bye, guys! 

Also, this chapter is 3116 words (including author's notes)... geez. I didn't know I could write that much.