She flew back towards the prison as darkness fell. She had not had a full nights sleep for a while now and her eyes were saggy with fatigue. But she quickly shrugged it off.
She flew most of the way, but made the last mile of the journey on foot. In the air she was very open to being spotted, and she could not take that risk.
She walked quietly, careful to make as little noise as possible knowing the slightest sound could arouse suspicion. Then when she saw the horrible sight of the huge stony edifice of the prison, she kept low as she crawled forward step by step towards a large bush where she would be obscurely hidden but from where she could keep a close eye on the building while hidden.
From her hiding place she watched as several large, grim faced stallions circled the building, their eyes devoid of any warmth. Long minutes passed as she continued to discreetly observe the vicinity, careful not to give away her position.
Even the element of kindness had to sadly acknowledge that sometimes, a friendly talk and negotiation was not the path to go down. With eyes as blank and emotionless as those, to Fluttershy those stallions looked more criminal than criminal.
They were not ponies Fluttershy would want to meet on a cold, dark moonless night like this. They were not ponies Fluttershy wanted to meet at all.
Several times the stallions surveyed the area near Fluttershy, but fortunately their eyes never met hers. If they did catch her, she could only begin to imagine what would happen to her. But she had a pretty good idea. The image of a pack of starving hyena's pouncing onto a startled hare came to mind.
But eventually as Fluttershy had hoped, they began to head away after staring coldly in her direction for several more minutes.
There wasn't a second to waste. Quickly but quietly, Fluttershy came out from her hiding place and began to creep towards the metal fence surrounding the building. Now was the time to carry out the next part of her schemes.
She would fly over the tall metal fence that encircled the building before using the powerful lighter she had brought with her to melt the bars on Lightning Dusts cell window before pulling Lightning out. She would then use the lighter to melt the cuffs on Lightning's cuffs, and the thick wire tied around Lightning's wings.
It would hurt Lightning quite a bit but it was the only way forward, and Fluttershy was confident that she could treat any burns she had caused when they arrived back at her cottage as long as she was careful not to apply too much heat.
But now was not the time to celebrate. Quickly she flew towards the window where she remembered she last saw Lightning.
The lights were off.
Fluttershy was puzzled, it was just yesterday that she found Lightning Dust in this exact cell and yet even from the distance she was now, she could see it was as empty as every other cell in the building.
Fluttershy began to panic, surely she had not come too late. Or had some wonderful miracle happened and had justice finally decided to grant her newfound friend another chance at life.
It was a happy thought, but Fluttershy quickly pushed the chance of the latter event happening out of her mind. With how mad Spitfire was at Lightning Dust, it was unlikely that Lightning would ever see freedom in her life. That was the reason Fluttershy was here after all. To grant Lightning her early release date which Celestia and the biased law would not grant.
It wasn't simply because Fluttershy pitied Lightning Dust that she was doing the dangerous things she was doing now either. Remittances for good behaviour deserved to be met with better treatment, clemency and parole and none of those things had been granted despite Lightning having reformed herself in every sense of the word at least to Fluttershy.
She showed remorse, and not simply because she was upset that being locked away in prison inconvenienced her, or that she felt that her dreams had been unfairly snatched away from her. She was remorseful because she felt regret and disgust at her own actions because they were immoral.
She was regretful because she felt immoral and unable to make a change now that her freedom had been taken away from her. She was remorseful that she would live out the rest of her existence with the world hating her, never able to apologise to those she wronged.
She did not want her dreams back, she wanted a chance at reformation and at making a positive difference. And unlike many former antagonists Fluttershy had dealt with and seen, Lightning reasons for wanting reformation were selfless and pure. She did not have to be curb stomped and one-upped by the pony she thought she was better than the whole time.
She was not Sunset Shimmer. She did not need to be taught the wrongness of her actions after her evil schemes were thwarted and she had lost everything she held dear.
She was not Starlight Glimmer. Starlight Glimmer only finally listened after Twilight had to show her first hand, the terrible consequences of what her revenge would do and it was worse that Starlight was the one who came back for revenge in the first place. Lightning did not want revenge. Unlike Starlight, Lightning was not out for revenge. Lightning knew there was nothing to be gained by repeating the same mistakes which had cost her dearly in the first place.
Lightning realised herself that what she did was wrong and was ready from the get-go to accept full responsibility for them. She made no excuses unlike Sunset and Starlight , she did as Spitifre said and went without a fight.
To Fluttershy, this was certainly parole worthy behaviour, and if the law would not grant the defendant what the defendant was rightfully owed, then Fluttershy would.
As the element of kindness, she saw this as her duty. There was no kindness in punishing a pony who had already learned their lesson long ago. It was like beating the dead horse who had died long ago from the beating, and what was the kindness in that?
But Lightning was not there. Futtershy had come too late. Where Lightning had gone, perhaps she would never know. All the element of kindness knew was that she had failed her friend. She had failed to live up to her element. She had let her element, herself and her friend down and the guilt would haunt her to the grave.
It was with a heavy heart that Fluttershy soared away knowing that if she stayed, there would be hell to pay when the guards found her. There was no point in throwing her life away for nothing.
It was when she soared back into the forest that a truly daunting sight met her eyes.
There, lying obscured under the undergrowth lay the lifeless, cold figure of a talented young flyer who had now lost the last thing she had of worth after her dreams had been dashed before her one by one and she had been betrayed by all her friends she thought she could count on.
The wind played with her bright amber mane, twisting it so that it covered her face. Several large marks covered her cyan body, much worse than the ones Fluttershy saw yesterday.
Fluttershy did not have to wait for a response that would never come to know what had most likely happened. And it was all her fault. She had caused this and once again been more of a liability than of any help. The element of kindness had failed in yet another mission and another life had to be lost because of her mistake.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but when she tried to cry she found that only tear less sighs escaped her.
She said nothing for there was nothing to be said, but instead knelt by Lightning Dust's side.
As she leaned closer to Lightning's body, the air seemed to drop several degrees in temperature and she found herself shivering uncontrollably.
Lightning lay still as a statue and made neither sound nor motion as Fluttershy held out a hoof as a last attempt to confirm the sad fact she knew she would have to face. Fluttershy prayed to Celestia for at least a breath, but Celestia didn't seem to be listening. There was no breath. There was no movement. Lightning Dust had left and Fluttershy had missed her.
It was no good. But Fluttershy knew there was but one thing she could do if she truly valued Lightning Dust.
She could at least persusade Twilight and the others to offer their forgiveness to Lightning so that at least wherever Lightning had gone now, she could feel relief knowing that those she wronged before she had to leave, held no grudge against her and only wished for her to be happy wherever she was now. Maybe even convince Rainbow Dash to lessen his hatred towards one of his most hated enemies, but Fluttershy didn't count on that.
She would get to that, but first she had to give Lightning a proper grave. It was the least anypony deserved and since no one else would undertake the grim but morally important task, it fell to Fluttershy.
And since there was no one to give Lightning Dust a parting speech, Fluttershy would have to organize that too.
And since most of Equestria and indeed the world most likely hated Lightning Dust too much to even talk about her, it was Fluttershy's responsibility to visit Lightning Dust (or at least what was left of her which she couldn't take with her) again from time to time if no one else would, to show Lightning Dust that people from the old home she left behind still cared for her enough to remember the good things she did do.
A single tear escaped Fluttershy's eye as she bent down to take Lightning Dust back to her cottage where she would begin the long and tedious task of giving Lightning a proper burial.
THE END?