Six mares and a dragon sat in a circle in Applejack's barn.
"What did you girls want to see me about?" Twilight Sparkle asked her friends.
The other mares looked around at each other.
"See, here's the thing, darling," Rarity said once all eyes turned to her. "Yes, we accepted Starlight's apology. Yes, we worked with her to repair all the damage she caused. Yes, we've patched things over. It's just, well..." She trailed off, looking to the others for support.
"She's kind of a psychopath," Pinkie said, her ears flopping down against her skull.
"She seems to have a hard time learning from her mistakes," Fluttershy said gently.
Applejack cleared her throat. "Thing is...we let you talk us inta lettin' that hind end of a horseapple stay in Ponyville after all she's done when her rump oughtta be in Tartarus. An' we're stickin' to that. Fer now."
"But she's used up her get out of jerk free card," Rainbow said, crossing her hooves. "If she slips up again, you've got three choices."
Twilight blinked. "I do?"
"You do," Applejack said. "One: You ship 'er off to the Crystal Empire an' make 'er Sunburst's problem."
"Two," Rarity put in firmly. "You encourage her to go on the road with Trixie. Permanently."
"And...three?" Twilight asked, taking a step back.
Rainbow pounded her hooves together. "The five of us drag her to Tartarus ourselves like we should've done in the first place."
Twilight's ears pinned back. "Girls? Aren't...aren't you overreacting just a little—"
"No," Fluttershy said, stepping forward. Her voice was soft but stern. "We're willing to deal with a lot. We've reformed Discord. We've forgiven you for turning Ponyville upside-down with your magic in the past. We've accepted Trixie. We even managed to get my lazy brother to turn his life around. But Starlight...she's damaged, Twilight. She's unstable. She needs professional help. And she's not getting it."
Twilight frowned, biting her lip.
"So that's how it is," Rainbow said. "I'm sorry it has to be that way, but either you get her the help she needs and fix her, or the next time she pulls a stunt like this, she leaves Ponyville."
Spike sighed. "I gotta go with the girls on this one, Twilight," he said. "Me and you, we know Starlight better than any of them, and I'd hate to see anything bad happen to her, but honestly? She's kind of a mess, and we haven't really tried anything except friendship and trust." He toed at the dirt floor of the barn. "Sometimes...sometimes that just isn't enough."
Twilight bowed her head. "You're right," she said. "Starlight...does need more help than I can give her just by trying to teach her. I'll...I'll see what I can do." She looked around at her friends, tears in her eyes. "But don't talk about dragging her off to Tartarus. Please? There are...there are better ways."
The girls looked at each other, then back at Twilight.
"We don't want to do that," Rarity said. "So please, find a way to make her stable. Because we know forcing you to send her away will hurt you as much as it will hurt her, and that's the last thing we want to do."
Twilight turned away, tears spilling on the ground. "I need to be alone for a little while," she said roughly. "I'll...I'll see you girls later." With that, she teleported away.
The remaining mares and Spike looked at one another, faces sad.
"It...it had to be done," Rainbow said. "Right?"
"Right," Fluttershy agreed, her tone uncertain.
"I think I'm gonna go cry for a few hours," Pinkie said, her hair drooping. "Bye, girls."
As the friends went their separate ways, they reflected on the friendship lesson they'd all learned from this experience:
Sometimes, you end up hurting your friends even though it's the last thing you want to do. And when that happens...it hurts you just as deeply.