The voice was so quiet. So very quiet that at first Fluttershy only imagined she heard it, when there it was once more.
"I'm sorry" it cried softly "So very very sorry for what I did to you. I didn't... I didn't intend for it". Fluttershy looked once more at the face peering through the bars of the window, and she was puzzled. This was the first time she had heard anyone introduce themselves in this way. And from the way this pony spoke and peered back at her, it was clear this regret was genuine.
Fluttershy gazed once more at the pony peering through the barred window. Her deflated orange mane and horribly bruised face a telltale sign of horrific abuse and her reddened saggy and lifeless eyes a likely result of many sleepless nights.
This was not the pony Fluttershy remembered at the Wonderbolt academy yet it undeniably was the same pony. Fluttershy needed no explanation, her memory was better than she was willing to admit and she had been there when the incident occured.
She knew what this pony did was severe and that the punishment would be severe, but not this severe. This was how a mass murderer was treated and even then Fluttershy found it jarring that a ruler as just and merciful as Celestia would allow such vulgar treatment. Even prisoners had rights, or should have.
Fluttershy did not need to ask for the pony's name, she knew what it was from the times Rainbow Dash ranted on and on about how he just hated Lightning Dust and how glad he was that she was finally called out for her wrongdoings.
"Its alright" Fluttershy replied "Its alright. I forgive you."
Hearing those words, Lightning looked up and a ghost of a smile returned to her lips. "Really?" she asked, half mad with a mixture of hope and desperation.
"Of course. Everyone makes mistakes. What's important is that you feel sorry for what you did and learn from your mistakes"
Tears began to well in Lightning's eyes. And slowly in a trickle, they began to run down her cheeks as she wept silently, unable to control herself.
"There, there" soothed Fluttershy, dismayed that her words had brought Lightning to even more tears. "Its alright. You didn't mean to do what you did, and its not your fault"
"It is" sighed Lightning, only just managing to salvage a touch of composure. "I, I put you in danger. I put your friends and you in danger. All my fault"
A loud creaking tread was heard and Lightning was at once apprehensive.
"Go!" pleaded Lightning stiffing her sobs.
"But..." protested Fluttershy but Lightning cut her off.
"Please. Just go. I don't want you to get in trouble when the guard comes in. Just go. Please. He'll really punish you if he catches you"
"I'm not going without you" retorted Fluttershy. "You deserve better than this. I know you do".
After all, from what she saw and heard at the Wonderbolt academy that day, the hurricane was at least partly Rainbow Dash's fault too. At least in her own experience.
"You have to" pleaded Lightning as the footsteps got louder and louder "Please. Please go. Please, you don't have to suffer for my mistakes. Please."
Fluttershy looked at Lightning and she looked back at Fluttershy. A noise of a key turning in a lock made Fluttershy leap away from the window just as a tall, daunting figure stepped into the room.
As she slowly flew away, dissapearing back into the shadow of the night, Fluttershy cringed as she heard a furious shout followed by several loud, heavy thuds, one after the other.
Fluttershy realized sadly that though she had taken the safer option, she could not shake the feeling she was once again a coward in every sense of the word.
And as she found her way by the light of the full moon back to her cottage, looking up to the high moon, she vowed in a solemn, serious tone.
"As Celestia as my witness, I will help my friend. I will come back here and help her no matter the price".
"Who were you talking to" demanded the guard angrily as he shook Lightning hard.
"Myself, I guess" sighed Lightning tiredly in reply. "Who would want to talk to me"
The guard dropped Lightning Dust like a hot potato. "Well said" he sneered sarcastically "Well said you little runt. After the way you behaved back at the academy, I don't think even your own mother would ever want to see you ever again. Not that your mother ever loved you in the first place. Heck she probably loathed you from the day you were born."
"I'll have you know my mother loved me very much" hissed Lightning, unable to let that insult go unchallenged.
"No one loves you and now that you're going to spend the rest of your life in this prison with only me for company, no one ever will." spat the guard sarcastically "A cold blooded murderer who blows tornadoes to threaten innocent lives deserves no love."
"I've said it before" replied Lightning weary and annoyed "But I'll say it again. It was an accident, I swear."
"Pah" huffed the guard "An accident. Sure it was. If it really was an accident, why would we have bothered taking you here to prison in the first place. Have you no shame?"
"I did the best I could" protested Lightning Dust.
"Well your best simply was not good enough then" retorted the guard and before Lightning could reply, the guard swung his hoof into Lightning's already bruised face.
It was a miracle how no blood welled from Lightning's nose after such a blow. In fact it was a miracle how Lightning's skull stayed intact after the impact.
The guard said nothing else as he left, locking the door as he did so. And after making sure he was gone, Lightning returned to the window, staring blankly into the night. She was glad that at least one of the ponies she wronged had forgiven her and accepted her apology so kindly, yet upset that she could not do more to show her regret.
There were still 4 more ponies she had yet to apologise to, and she still had to say her sorry's to Rainbow Dash and her teacher, Spitfire. She did not expect the pony she had just met and whose name she sadly didn't know, to return. That would be asking too much after that pony had already done so much by forgiving her.
But Lightning hoped she could at least tell the other ponies involved in the incident that awful day, that a certain Wonderbolt at the Wonderbolt academy (Lightning never had a chance to say her name) sent them her apologies and kind regards.
A brief glimmer of hope that perhaps she had found a new friend crossed Lightning's mind briefly but she quickly shot it down and dismissed it. To forgive was one thing but to care for enough to call someone a friend, was another altogether.
Lightning sighed painfully, this was another one of those nights where she could not help but wish this all would end. She could really use some friends for a change.