As Canterlot was slowly recovering from the whole dragon incident, the guards were watching Fire Jewel rebuilding the buildings with only tools. To make sure, she would not get away from community service or someone even attempting to hurt or even kill her, more guards came by to monitor the situation. However, that didn't stop the residents to call her horrible names and terrible stuff, like "devil" or "I hope, you die!" and so on. All of those insults, coupled with some ponies throwing trash at the red pony, severely worsened her depression. The other ponies, who didn't harass and and throw junk at her, like it's in the medieval ages, only watched, as they pass through, adding up to the humiliation.
When the day ended, they put her back in her cell and another guard came by to watch her. During this time, the mare was completely silent and didn't even resist to anyone. Everything in her head is getting worse and worse, as she stood in her cell, without moving a single muscle.
Later, in the midnight, the guard was doing some routine watching, when he heard a sound, coming from the halls. The pegasus stallion went inside, leaving Fire Jewel unguarded. Turns out, the sound actually came from a door opening and it was a female unicorn guard. Without saying something, they switched positions, since she was the night guard. As the mare went downstairs, she didn't expect the unthinkable: The guard saw Fire Jewel, tying a noose, made from sheets, tightly on her neck and when it was tied to the highest position, which in this case was the ceiling, she was about to step down from the highest bed and committing suicide.
"NO!!!" The guard used her magic to stop her fall and untie the knot, releasing her. As she opened the cell door to check up on her, she saw her face, which was full of despair and hopelessness. As the guard kept checking, the red pony still didn't move.
"Just next time, don't do this to yourself." The female guard told to her, but it seems like, it fell on deaf ears, as the guard put the red mare to her bed, left the cell, locked the door and watched intensely. Fire still hasn't moved at all, while she was watched. In face, she couldn't fall asleep, because of her depression. What's worse is, apart from the abusive past, another memory is secretly and slowly getting unravelled in her head. Eventually, the guard witnessed the mare crying herself to sleep.
The next day, she was escorted out by the guards for the community service, after she was woken up. That day, the night guard told the other guards about Fire's attempted suicide and they decided to raise up the surveillance and put her under "suicide watch". That means, there will be several guards available to watch her during the night, in order to prevent another suicide attempt.
Anyway, she kept rebuilding the houses, the castle and other buildings, while also disposing of debris and other trash. Unfortunately, the day was the same as yesterday, as the citizens continued taking down on her and making sure to make her days as miserable as possible. Sure, not all of them are for it, but there are numerous people, who want her completely miserable, until her death. After all, they only saw her as an irredeemable criminal. As the days turned into weeks and as Canterlot gets slowly rebuilt, the harassment continued. It went on and on, while the pain got worse and worse. Also, when the unicorn wasn't busy working, she would sit in her cell and not moving an inch. Unlike Susan and Mary, when they were held in Tartarus, the guards actually allowed the mare to be visited by someone. In the end, only one decided to visit her and she'll soon be a frequent visitor, during her imprisonment: Fire's older sister, Ocean Spark.
During one of those visits, Ocean brought her some home baked cookies for her little sister, who was still silent.
"Fire....I know, that you are in a very difficult time and I know, I did a lot of shit in the past...I just want to tell you something...I'm really sorry...After that incident in Xeon, I wanted to prevent something like this, so I told to my friends about it...It was a good intention on paper...but...unfortunately, the execution was completely chaotic. Soon, we were so caught up in our duties, that I basically forgot that original goal, until it was too late...I made you even more agitated than before and that resulted in tons of paranoia, which lead to that second dragon incident.... Since then, I feel really awful every time, causing for the group to be disbanded in bad terms." The blue mare told to her sister about her feelings, when her teal eyes became filled with tears. "I really don't mean to hurt you, yet it did happen...It was a perfect storm of issues, that lead to a domino effect...And now...everybody hates you, because of that!! It was really my fault and I should be the one locked up!!! I'm really sorry, Fire Jewel!!!" The unicorn soon cried, as the guards watched. Unfortunately, there was no response from the red unicorn, as she was frozen in despair. After a while, the guards told Ocean, that the visitation time was up and she had to go home, in which the blue mare did just that. But not before looking back at her sister one last time of the day, with tears in her eyes.
"I just wish, you would forgive me and for us to go back to the good old times..." Ocean sobbed a bit, before leaving Fire Jewel alone with the guards.
As the night began to rise, she was greeted with more night guards, before laying down on her bed and once again crying herself to sleep.
A few weeks have been passed and the rebuilding was almost complete. She just had to finish the buildings. Once again, some residents call her bad names, while the majority went on with their days. One of them was Tempest Shadow. She was taking a little break from spreading the good news about Storm King's defeat, when she saw Fire Jewel doing the final tasks to rebuild Canterlot, while being harassed by the residents. It was around this time, where cracks began to show. After the constant pain and abuse from everyone, she screamed and tried to run, but the guards held her in place.
"Hey! Don't you dare to do something stupid, pal!" One of the guards reported. "You really don't want to have an extended sentence in the dungeons, don't you?"
"WHY DON'T YOU GUYS JUST KILL ME INSTEAD!!! EVERYONE HATES ME, BECAUSE OF WHAT I DID!!!" The red mare screamed and shouted, as the extent of her depression showed. "I'M PRETTY SURE, EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY WITH ME DEAD, BECAUSE I REALLY DESERVE IT!!! I TRULY DON'T DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE!!!" She was in tears, as everypony watched, including Tempest. The majority really didn't want to and backed off. The red mare had truly given up and thought, that her death will be the ultimate release and making everyone happy.
"What's going on?" The mare with the broken horn was confused. She had no idea about the dragon incident, since she was somewhere else.
As I said, the majority of the ponies really didn't want to kill the red mare and backed off in fear. (Because for real, if someone did have the guts to kill a person, they hate or killing a criminal in universe or in real life, he or she will face the consequences, because it's still murder, no matter the circumstances. A lot of people don't have the guts and any ideas to do just that and just stay away from the trouble, since let's be honest, NOBODY wants to go to jail and have their reputation ruined in real life! It's called common sense!) However, one reaction was completely different from the rest:
"Don't worry....You'll soon get your wish, bitch!"
As everyone looked at the source of the voice, it came from a crazy unicorn stallion with a burnt face. His eyes were really small, as he crackled and laughed in a fit of insanity. As if that wasn't enough, he had a knife, ready to kill the red unicorn and cut her up like a pig.
"I'll make sure, everyone will be happy....by CUTTING YOU UP LIKE A PIG AND CRUSH YOUR INTESTINES!!!!" He laughed loudly, as the ponies backed off in fear, except the guards, who prepared for the big defense and Tempest, who got ready.
"Don't take a step further!!" One of the guards shouted, but it fell on deaf ears, as the crazed unicorn dashed to the scene. The guards did their best to slow him down and disarm him, but the sheer amount of insanity made him stronger and broke through them like bowling pins. Tempest unleashed a magical shockwave to knock him away. The unicorn mare was about to take the knife away, when he stood up and began a fight with her. As they struggled with the constant kicks and magic blasts, one guard tried to escort Fire Jewel out of Canterlot. Unfortunately, the crazed stallion with the burnt face, who was fueled by insanity and a twisted sense of "revenge", pushed Tempest out of the way, causing her head being hit onto the ground and used his magic to throw the guard away, like trash. The red mare was locked in fear, as he went closer an closer.
"DIE!!!!" He was launching himself at the unicorn, when all of a sudden, he was pushed away by a beam of water. That beam came from Ocean Spark, who appeared from the shadows.
"Don't you dare to even lay a hoof on my sister!!!" Her horn glowed even brighter than before, as the oceanic mare became angry. Soon, a fight between Ocean and the crazed stallion began, as neither of them backed down. Meanwhile, Tempest slowly got up, as the fight became more intense, with both unicorn shooting beams to each other. Due to Ocean's expertise in her magic and experience, she had the advantage. Eventually, she used her magic to trap him in a strong bubble. "That'll teach you on doing something dangerous! I'll take you to the authorities, so justice will punish you!" The oceanic mare was very careful, when she slowly approached him. She looked at Tempest and said: "Ma'am, please take Fire Jewel to a safe location."
"I'm on it." The dark mare with the broken mare was about to go to the red mare, when all of a sudden, the scarred pony started laughing hysterically. "You think, you can trap me in a stupid bubble! Once I'm done with that monster, I'll kill all of you!!!" He unleashed a powerful spell, breaking free from the bubble and knocking Ocean, Fire and Tempest into the ground. Soon, he jumped at the helpless red mare, grabbed her by her throat and started choking on her, while laughing and shouting "DIE!" over and over again. Ocean Spark got up, when she saw this unfold. She screamed and grabbed the crazy individual in a headlock. He tried to break free, even so far as to bite Ocean's arm hard. Despite this, she never let go of her grip, while Fire Jewel was still choking. She tried to use her water magic to prevent him on killing her sister, but eventually, she realized, that nothing can stop him and as she saw Fire's eyes about to roll up, she was left with no other option: The blue mare started to scream and used all of her strength to snap his neck, which proved to be fatal, as he dropped dead to the ground and letting Fire go, as she gasped for air.
Of course, the terrified crowd witnessed it all, including Tempest. Soon, the blue mare backed away and with shaken arms and blurred vision, she immediately realized the gravity of her actions and suffered a severe mental breakdown, as she fell down. Eventually, the guards have arrived and immediately went to their positions to apprehend the mare, when she suddenly ran away, which the guards immediately began to chase her.
"Hey, are you okay? Tell me! Are you okay!?" Tempest checked up on Fire Jewel, who still gasped for air. The guards, who were there, since the beginning, immediately went to the red mare and checked for any injuries.
"I doubt, she is safe here...We have to bring her back to the dungeon for safety." One of them commented, as they brought Fire Jewel and were on their way back to the dungeon. Meanwhile, Tempest stood there, confused on what just happened. There were several questions in her head. "Excuse me, what's the meaning of this?" She needed answers from the guards. In the end, the guards stood her about the dragon incident in full detail, alongside with Ocean's words about Fire's past. After that bombshell of information, a memory flashed in front of Tempest: The attack from the Ursa Minor, her time as a commander for the Storm King, her crimes, everything. She soon felt sympathy for Fire Jewel and wanted to help her. But first, several questions had to be made, such as:
Who was the stallion?
Meanwhile, the chase went on and on, as Ocean ran as fast, as she could, until the chase continued in the castle. "Stop right there!!" One of the guards shouted. They thought, she could harm more ponies on her way inside of the castle, but this is, when the story turned into into the very strange. She went downstairs, rather upstairs. It went on and on, until the guards realized, that Ocean was on her way to the dungeons on her own! It became more evident, when she used her water magic to evaporate through the door and when they opened the door, they saw Ocean in a closed cell already.
"Go on...lock my horn...I deserved it..." She spoke.
That completely baffled the guards. They never had an incident like this. So many questions circled in their heads, as they had to understand on what's going on.
"We'll be right back..." They went upstairs. They wanted to tell the princesses about this strange situation.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot centre...
Tempest looked around and asked ponies about the identity of that scarred stallion, in order to get answers. Most of them are too scared to even tell something, since it happened so recently. She kept going and going, until one pony came forward.
"The pony with the scarred face? His name is Vanity Shine. He was so proud with his beauty, that he liked to brag about it all the time." One of the Canterlot mares told her about it.
"Hmmm...It seems like, when his face got burned, he went insane..." Tempest started to connect the dots. "This is really not good.... Where is his home?" She thought to herself and then asked someone for the location of his home. She really needed the missing pieces. After looking around for so long and asking other ponies about the house, someone actually gave her directions on Vanity's house. After a while of following directions and several backtracking, due to mistakes later, she finally arrived. As Tempest entered inside, she was met with complete silence. But as she looked inside of several rooms, she was about to leave, when sounds of banging can be heard.
"What was that?" She used her ears to track the sound and followed it to the wall of the bedroom. At first, the mare thought, that it was all a trick, as the wall was solid...or is it? Because as she knocked on the wall, it turned out that there was a room hidden in the wall. In the end, Tempest unleashed a burst of magic to tear the wall down, only to see something horrible: It was an indigo mare, with messy lilac hair, tied up and her mouth covered in duct tape. She was weakened and covered in dust. Immediately, Tempest untied the mare and got the duct tape off her mouth. It seemed like, she was locked behind that wall for weeks.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" Tempest asked.
"Do I look like, I'm okay?!" The unknown mare twitched.
"What happened to you? Do you know anything about Vanity Shine? Tell me, I need answers!" The scared unicorn grabbed the mare by the hoof and helped get up, but she was wobbling.
"He....he....he's my boyfriend...." She weakly responded. "The burns of his face made him go insane...He was literally obsessed over a red unicorn, thinking, that she was responsible for his burned face.... He fantasised about killing her in so many ways and disposing her body in a way, where no traces of her can be found...He talked to himself, that he would do society a favor by killing her...I became really scared by the sudden change...He may be arrogant and vain to the extreme, but the dragon changed him for the worse. One day, I tried to reason with him, that killing her would not do anything better, but instead damage his reputation and getting him locked up in Tartarus, but he didn't listen....Until he had enough and I was left beaten, tied and left to die behind the wall..."
"Oh my gosh... I'm so sorry for what happened to you..." That story horrified Tempest. "The thing is, he did try to kill her, but her sister tried her best to stop him, until she was left with no option, other than snap his neck. But now that you're free, I can take you to a doctor to fix you up." She tried to pick the mare up, but she resisted and ran off. The unicorn chased her to the kitchen, where she witnessed the mare pulling out a knife, but not to try to harm Tempest...
"What are you doing!?" Tempest shouted.
"I just can't be saved....The weeks of imprisonment made me insane...There is literally no hope anymore..." the mare answered. "The only way to get out of it is to end it all.." She was about to turn the knife on herself, when the dark purple unicorn tackled her to the ground in an attempt to disarm her. That resulted in a big scuffle between the mares.
Back in the Canterlot Castle, in the throne room, the guards reporter the royal sisters about what happened in Canterlot. The beginning of the community service, Fire Jewel becoming suicidal, thanks to the constant trashing by the citizens, only to be prevented, the suicide watch, her snapping and wishing the guards to just kill her, only for Vanity Shine to go through the guards and almost killing the red mare, until Ocean Spark snapping his neck and running all the way to the dungeons by herself, in a sign of immediate guilt. The sisters were completely baffled and horrified by the story. Even though the weeks, leading up to it were uninterrupted, since Fire Jewel was doing her sentence just right, except that her suicidal behaviour lead her to be put under suicide watch, the dragon incident became a catalyst on what happened today.
"I can't believe, that things would become much worse..." Princess Celestia was overwhelmed. "Their arrival surely made everything even more complicated..."
"Which makes it difficult to focus on the royal duties..." Luna looked down. "I swear, most of the ponies wanted to fan the flames even further, which leads to Fire Jewel becoming hopeless. At this point, I have no words to describe this ever complicated incident."
"I think, it's best to talk with her friends about the full backstory, in order to understand them more." Celestia suggested. "Guards, get Breeze Dasher, Tropic Bloom, Snow Emerald and Cherry Swirl to the throne room. We need their stories to fill in the blanks."
Four guards nodded and went off to find them. At the same time, a pegasus guard flew inside with an urgent message.
"Princess Celestia, there has been a scuffle in Canterlot!" He reported.
"A scuffle?" The sun princess asked.
"Yes. A fight broke out, in which Tempest was involved." He then added more information. The sisters were thrown off. They last saw Tempest after Storm King's defeat and the Friendship Festival.
"What is she doing here?" Luna asked.
"Guards, make sure to break up the fight!" Celestia ordered and the guards went off. At the same time, Luna was thinking about something. This time, it's about a memory of the past.
"Hmm...Why do I have the feeling, the dragon incident sounded.....familiar?" Luna thought to herself. "Or is it just me?"
The guards outside of the castle and on to the scene, when they heard glass shattering and tumbling. Soon enough, the unknown mare and Tempest came out, in which she broke free, grabbed the knife tightly and backed off a bit.
"Listen! You need to think this through! Taking your own life will affect everything negatively. Is this, what you wanted? If not, please....take down the knife, calm down and let me help you...Everything will be okay..." Tempest tried to reason with her, but the mare was about to turn the knife to herself, although she was hesitant a bit. As the guards came closer and as the tension became higher than before, the mare was really about to slit her own throat.
"Please...I beg of you...Don't do this to yourself....Just give the knife to me and we can take you to a doctor..." Tempest slowly approached to the indigo unicorn, who became really scared. But eventually, she had second thoughts and put down the knife, in which she was pulled into a hug by the mare with the broken horn. "See? I'm here now." She softly spoke. "And as for the guards, they're not here to hurt you..."
However, the guards demanded answers. So the dark unicorn looked at them and responded with: "Take her to a doctor. I'll explain the full story, when we go to the castle, so the princesses will hear the tale." With those words, one of the guards took the indigo mare to the hospital, while the other guards took Tempest to the castle.
As they arrived inside the throne room, Tempest told to the princesses about everything, what happened. From the discovery of that indigo mare, the escalation and finally her preventing her from taking her own life. "Now, she's been taken to a hospital, where the doctors would take care. Also, I've heard about the whole dragon incident and the past, before it. Of course, there are many unanswered questions, that need to be answered." She explained.
"This is, why we decided to bring her friends in, in order to elaborate on the backstory further. Speaking of which...." Celestia explained, but stopped herself, once she saw the four elemental ponies entering the throne room. "Just in time!" She smiled.
"You want our backstories and everything to fill in the blanks?" Cherry asked.
"Of course. We wanted to know about you and your friends, as well as your professions." Luna was curious.
"The thing is...despite of what happened, that is really not Fire's nature....She may be hot headed and wild, but she has a soft and caring side to all of us, especially to her big sister, Ocean. The dragon incident was a result in ignorance, anger and over exaggeration." Tropic explained.
"Actually...That was the second time, she lost control and caused a rampage." Breeze noted.
"The second time? What happened before that?" Tempest was surprised. Snow decided to take a deep breath and explained the story about the first dragon incident:
"It all began in the planet, Xeon, when we were in a fierce battle against the shadow ponies. Cherry and Tropic helped the citizens evacuate, while the rest of us fought of an entire army. We were defeating the shadow ponies with out elemental powers and purification spells. However, everything turned upside down, when Shadow Nebula arrived..."
Xeon, a few years ago...
In a flashback, we see a nefarious dark pony with golden regalia and sparkling, velvet mane, fading to purple, walking through the flames and facing against Jenny, Fire Jewel, Ocean Spark, Snow Emerald and Breeze Dasher.
"You!" The pink unicorn snarled at her arch-nemesis.
"You know, that we kicked your army's asses, like always! So why don't you just quit?" Fire Jewel shouted.
"Do I look like, I would listen to your pathetic words? You realise, that once I'm done with you and take the elements by myself, I'll cover this universe in darkness and rule it for all eternity!!" The nefarious pony laughed.
"You'll never get your dirty hooves on the elemental orbs! Girls, let's go!" From the words of Jenny, the five ponies and Shadow Nebula engaged in a lengthy and ferocious fight. Beams were exchanged, light VS. dark clashed each other and neither side showing any sign of weakness.
"It was a ferocious battle between the two sides..."
"Get a load of this!!!" Shadow Nebula unleashed a powerful beam of magic, knocking the heroines into the ground hard. Like really hard. However, Ocean stood up a bit and tried to attack the nefarious alicorn, but that resulted in Ocean getting caught and tortured by painful magic spells.
"Unfortunately, in the end...she got the upper hand. Keep this in mind, this was our sixth mission. But still...She was stronger than us, due to our teamwork not being completely harmonised than in later battles. She then started torturing Ocean...which was the tipping point for Fire...And then, it happened..."
Seeing her sister being tortured by Shadow Nebula, who was laughing at the pain, really set off the red unicorn hard. So hard in fact, that she screamed and got surrounded by a lot of flames. As everyone watched in shock, the flames got higher and higher and soon, the fire dragon came out. She soon attacked the evil pony, releasing Ocean in the process. A hard battle between the two insued. During which, the others checked up on the blue unicorn.
"Ocean, are you okay??" Snow asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine...But my sister....is..." Ocean Spark looked up to see the dragon.
"She had transformed...into an elemental creature." Jenny answered.
"We forgot to mention, that the dragon is Fire's elemental creature. Each of us has the ability to transform into a specific animal. Ocean would transform into a water serpent, Breeze into a falcon, me into an polar bear, Cherry into a lion and Tropic into a big butterfly. However, there was one, has hasn't been able to transform into her elemental creature yet... But I digress."
Eventually, after a while of fighting, Shadow retreated with her army, after being weakened.
"You may won this time, Luminous 7....but soon, I'll be back!" She shouted at the group, before disappearing in a magical mist. The dragon couldn't be able to catch her.
"Unfortunately...Shadow's retreat really set her off and thus, losing control...."
Essentially, it caused the dragon to go on a rampage, spewing fire everywhere. By the time, Cherry and Tropic returned to the group, the rampage had caused damage.
"Oh no! What are we gonna do?!" Tropic was scared.
"We have to stop her from causing damage!" Jenny responded, before flying up to the dragon, up close. "Fire, stop! You're gonna hurt a lot of innocent people, if you continue!" She shouted, but it fell on deaf ears, as she attempted to scorch the pink mare, but Jenny immediately teleported away to safety.
"Shit! She lost it!" The alicorn looked at the situation.
"Is there a way to stop this?" Breeze asked.
"We have to go inside the dragon, in order to reach her!" Ocean suggested.
"Wait! Are you sure? What if this won't work and we get killed in the process?" Cherry was worried.
"If we manage to sooth her from the inside and get her back into reality, we can stop it for sure." Ocean added.
"It's a risky idea...but we have no other choice, but to take it!" Tropic was convinced. At the same time, Jenny teleported herself back to the group.
"Fucking hell, she is too strong!" The pink mare looked at the dragon keep scorching fire blindly.
"Jenny, we have to use our combined powers to go inside of the dragon, so we can break her from the blind state!" Ocean suggested.
"That's actually a good idea....Okay, girls, get into your position!" Jenny's words made the others to go in a formation. As they focused on an entry point, the dragon kept roaring. However, Breeze distracted the dragon by causing a storm. This was enough for them to charge with full speed and going inside of it. Inside, it was burning hot, with flames everywhere. Eventually, they saw Fire Jewel, blinded in rage with the same serpent-like eyes, as in the Canterlot incident.
"Fire, please!! You need to control yourself! Innocent lives are at stake, if you keep continuing! Please, I beg of you!!!" Ocean immediately hugged her sister, as the others soon joined and soothed their friend. Although the red unicorn screamed and the temperature rising, they refused to let her go. Eventually, after a while, everything was covered in smoke, as dragon faded off in it and the group emerged outside, thanks to Jenny's protection spell.
"In the end, we finally managed to soothe her....but she would soon see the damage, she caused."
Soon, sounds of ponies, saying hurtful insults of the unicorn mare can be heard. As the red unicorn opened her eyes, she saw the angry crowd with burn Mark's, indicating, that some of them weren't so lucky. Her heart broke at the sight and became so scared and so guilty, that she ran away crying.
"Fire, wait!!" Cherry and her friends immediately followed her.
"It was really painful for her to have her reputation damaged by a mistake, she couldn't control...This was and still is the biggest downside of her transformation, due to the lack of control, which was contributed from the pain of the past. Even though Shadow Nebula caused a lot more damage, the incident alone burned in everyone's minds.
Canterlot Castle, present
"From that day, Ocean suggested to watch over Fire, in case of yet another blind rampage...but this time...it's our ignorance and Fire's mental deterioration, that lead to the second incident...God....I feel like, our arrival made everything worse..." Snow looked down in sadness.
"You don't need to apologise for your arrival. It's just, you have been dealing with an internal friendship problem, nobody knew until now." Celestia assured them.
"You don't understand...Our ignorance lead to this! Coupled with the fact, that her mental health has been deteriorating, due to the countless cases of abuse and her stubborn personality! We are responsible of Fire's downfall and now she and Ocean are in the dungeons, because of us!!" Tropic was getting really emotional. "I think, everyone would be better off, if we just left and never came back..." The yellow mare ran away crying.
"Tropic...." Breeze looked concerned at her friend.
"And as for our backstories, we'll tell you." Snow sighed, in which the three ponies told their backstories to the royals and Tempest in full. (Their backstories will be in a different, upcoming story, all about them and their friends.)
"I'm so sorry, that you had to suffer through several issues..." Luna looked sad.
"However, it's the pain and our shared sense in justice, which held us together...but now...our friends are gone, because of a stupid mistake...." Cherry sighed.
"Would you excuse us, we have to close ourselves up from the public in shame..." Breeze looked down and the three ponies left in sadness. It's clear, that they're ashamed of their actions. The others couldn't do anything, other than watch...but then...
Something came up in Tempest's mind. Hearing the stories, as well as the trials and tribulations of those elemental ponies, really cranked up her determination on doing something to release everyone from their burden.
"Princess Celestia and Luna! I demand Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark to be immediately released!" She had a serious look on her face. That threw the sisters off.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Celestia was shocked.
"Think about it...These ponies did some terrible mistakes in their lives...Just because someone did a mistake, that doesn't mean, their life is over! There is still a chance, that they could be redeemed! I know that from my experience, when I was responsible for the invasion...I thought, doing the Storm King's orders would help me restore my horn....but I was wrong, when he betrayed me and sent me right into the storm...But despite all of this, all of the atrocities, I've done, Twilight Sparkle never gave up and forgave me....At first, I thought, that this wasn't happening...I gave up on friendship! But even then, she was determined to make me change the sides...Her friendship made me realise about my errors and changed myself for the better. And now, I'm gonna use my experience to help the sisters!" The dark unicorn was determined. "I know, that some are still angry and never want to forgive her, but tell me...Where is the line drawn between reasonable hatred to just straight up harassment?? Has anyone even made a mistake in their lives?"
"She has a good point... Everypony made some terrible mistakes in their past...which includes me." Luna suddenly agreed. "Think about it, my dear sister. Think about that certain event many moons ago...when I was consumed by jealousy and hatred. Your ignorance didn't help at all."
That sent chills down to the sun princess' spine, since she was really referring to the Nightmare Moon incident thousands of years ago. "It's like, you want to repeat history, but with two different ponies." Luna glared at Celestia, as she went to Tempest. Those words really felt painful.
"Tempest Shadow, you have not only my permission, but also my assistance. I too, did terrible things in the past." The moon princess told to the former commander of the Storm King. "With my experience and kindness and your determination, we can get the sisters out of the darkness." The two left the throne room, leaving Celestia without any words. Soon, tears were streaming down from her face. She couldn't believe it....The princess of the sun made the same mistake from thousands of years ago.
The guards kept watching the two unicorns, who are in separate cells. Fire Jewel being depressed as always and Ocean Spark being silent. However, the silence was broken, when the guards heard steps and saw Princess Luna, coming down.
"Guards, release the two unicorns." Luna demanded.
"Are you serious? What if the crowd of ponies try to kill her again?" A guard was referring to that attempted murder from earlier.
"Don't worry. I'll bring them to a distant place, where they can stay there safely." The moon princess assured. "I just want to safely monitor them, while helping them reform." At the same time, Tempest came downstairs.
"As I said, Tempest and I will keep an eye on them." Luna added.
After some convincing and Tempest's reasoning, the guards were at first hesitant, but eventually, they opened the cages, allowing the mares to be free. Luna and Tempest grabbed each of the sisters' hooves and the moon princess used her magic to teleport herself and the others into a safe location.
Equestria, unknown forest location
The quartet arrived in an unknown forest location. Fortunately, it's safe for them to do the mission. The first thing to do is to release Fire and Ocean from the metal on their horns, allowing them to use magic again.
"Why?" Ocean asked.
"Well, you're not the only ones, who made bad mistakes in the past." Luna spoke to them softly.
"For example, due to the Ursa Minor incident, that left me scarred and my horn broken, I gave up on friendship completely and became the commander for the Storm King. That means, I did atrocious things in his name, like invading lands, imprisoning the citizens and captured the princesses, including Twilight. I did all of this, because I clung onto the foolish belief, that he could restore my horn....Sadly, the truth was not like that, when he betrayed me. But despite all of this...Twilight never gave up on me." Tempest explained her backstory to the sisters.
"Celestia also never gave up on me, even when my hatred and jealousy got manifested, when I transformed into Nightmare Moon many moons ago. However, I didn't know it back then, since I was blinded by negative emotions and the darkness. It all stemmed, that I put the most effort with creating a beautiful night, yet the ponies ignored it. And my case didn't get better, once I was cast to the moon by Celestia and the Elements of Harmony. Many moons later, I returned as Nightmare Moon and banished my sister, in an effort to last the night for an eternity. However, even though I destroyed the elements, it eventually got restored and chose Twilight and her friends as the new bearers, which lead to history being repeated...except I dint get banished for the second time, but instead turned myself to normal. I felt really guilty for everything, I've done. When I saw Celestia returning, I was scared, that she would never forgive me...But instead, she did." Luna explained her backstory. "You see, we are not flawless and made terrible mistakes in the past. But that doesn't mean, that you cannot be redeemed. There is always light at the end of the tunnel."
But Fire Jewel simply looked away. "This is bullshit...." she mumbled.
"What?" Ocean couldn't understand, what she said and neither did Luna and Tempest.
"Don't you see!? I've caused nothing but harm in the last few months!! I'm nothing but an irredeemable monster, who deserved to die!!!" The red unicorn became really caught in the despair.
"Please don't say that..." Luna tried to calm the red unicorn down, but it didn't work.
"Shut up!!! Look at me!! I've got too much blood on my hooves! I'm nothing but a-" However Fire was interrupted by Tempest.
"Stop it! You really didn't mean to harm anyone! It was due to blind anger and being stuck in the delusions! Just like me, back then...What I'm saying is, you need to stop being hopeless and improve yourself for the better!" She shouted. However, that resulted in the red unicorn running away crying, with the others chasing her. However, the chase only lasted for less than a minute, before she bumped into somepony, who was also running.
"Fire, are you okay!?" Ocean rusher to her sister's aid.
"Hey! Watch, where you're going!!" They heard a voice. As the group saw the individual of the voice, being down on the ground, it was none other than Trixie Lulamoon!
"Trixie? What are you doing here?" Luna asked.
"Please...I'm not in a mood..." Trixie looked away.
"What's wrong?" Tempest asked.
"I really miss Starlight, that's why!!! I've been thinking about her words from several months ago and it made me feel guilty....Now, she's gone, because I was partially responsible!!" She screamed.
"I know that feeling. I've been thinking about it during the last few months as well. Making a terrible mistake, that cost you the reputation and friendship. I'm no stranger to this and neither is Tempest." Luna sighed. She knows the feeling way too well.
"Wait, you did something terrible before?" Tempest asked to Trixie, in which the blue unicorn responded with: "Yes. It turns out, that the Great and Powerful Trixie....is not perfect...You know, what? Let's cut to the chase. I was so caught up in my own ego and thought myself better than everyone else, despite my magic skills being not good. That changed, when Twilight defeated me in a duel. Fueled by revenge, I found the Alicorn Amulet and used it to gain an unfair victory and changed Ponyville to my image. In the end, I was defeated by Twilight once again and I was left ashamed. Later, I met Starlight and since we had similar experiences of being formerly evil, we formed a special friendship. It also helped me reform. But now, with her gone, I feel terrible..."
"I'm so sorry for that..." Tempest hugged the blue mare.
"I'm not sure, how I would deal with this..." Trixie sighed.
"We're also not sure about it either." Princess Luna answered. It was around this time, that Trixie saw the sisters.
"Uhm, who are these ponies?" Trixie asked.
"These are Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark. Two sisters, who did terrible mistakes in their lives, just like us." Luna answered, before giving the unicorn mare with information about the two mares, including their backstories, the dragon incident and the time, where someone tried to kill the red unicorn. Needless to say, Trixie was shocked by the extent.
"Oh my gosh....This is awful! I'm so sorry, that you have to go through this...." Trixie apologised.
"It's okay....We've been through shit time after time, but it's what makes us stronger...Well, that was until now. The group has been through petty fights each other before, but it's my ignorance, that lead to the final nail in the coffin." Ocean looked sad.
Suddenly, Fire tried to run away again, but Luna used her magic to hold her in place. "Fire, you need to stop!!" She shouted, before turning her attention to Trixie. "I'm sorry. The second dragon incident, coupled with the citizens hating and attacking her, made her really suicidal."
"Wait a minute...you know about the Xeon incident?" Ocean was surprised.
"Yes. Your friends actually told me about it. Celestia and I called them to the royal throne room, in order to get a better picture about you and the others." Luna answered.
"The second time?" Trixie was confused, in which Ocean proceeded to tell the Xeon incident to her in full. "That's crazy!" The blue mare was shocked by the whole revelation.
"I thought, monitoring her would prevent incidents like this from ever happening, but....a poor execution and a shit ton of ignorance only let the doors open for even more disaster..." The oceanic mare became sorrowful. "And now, my sister is suffering and wants to kill herself, because of me... I am responsible for all of this! It's all my fault!" Soon, she was pulled in a hug by Tempest.
"That doesn't mean, it's set in stone forever. You can use your experience to learn from the mistakes and improve yourself for the better." She softly spoke.
Meanwhile, Fire was still struggling to get out the magic aura, but Luna refused to let her go. Screaming, kicking and thrashing can be heard, as she struggled further. The rest couldn't bear to see her like this, so the moon princess used her magic to get the red unicorn close to her and pull her in for a hug. "It's okay. I'm here. I know that feeling, I've been there before. But like Tempest said, you can learn from your mistakes and change yourself. There is a saying, that where there is darkness, there is also light." The dark blue alicorn mare softly spoke to the troubled mare, who at this point, stopped struggling and started getting really emotional, as she started to have a mental breakdown. At the same time, Trixie put her hoof and Fire's head.
Meanwhile, Luna was recounting on the letter from Twilight, which mentioned that Johnny attempted suicide before. Since they, the princess of friendship, her friends and his new family would keep an eye on him. And now, history is repeating itself, but this time with Fire Jewel. This time, she will double the effort to help her, alongside Tempest and Trixie.
"Look, we may have out flaws, but here is the thing: Nopony is perfect. And we can learn from the mistakes to improve ourselves." said the former commander of the Storm King.
"But...they'll never forgive me..." Fire looked down.
"I know. But if you want things back to where it was before the mess, you have to work really hard on yourself." Trixie added.
Soon, Ocean, Tempest and Trixie joined in a group hug to the red mare. They want to make sure, that she would be safe and happy.
Ponyville, Equestria
The news about the attempted murder and the release of the two unicorns of course caused a lot of controversy. Unlike, with the dragon incident, Ponyville has been divided by so many opinions. One of them is Twilight Sparkle herself. She knew, that something is wrong with the whole group. Once her friends have arrived to her castle and gathered around the map, she proceeded to make a statement.
"You know, there is a lot more to Fire Jewel and the others, that we don't know of. Like their profession, their history, their reason to arrive in Equestria. There has to be a reason!" she said.
"Don't you think, we already been through too much?" Rainbow was exhausted.
"Rainbow...There is always a reason to all of this." Applejack looked at the prismatic mare.
"The worst part is, I couldn't find Tropic and her friends, since they basically vanished from the public eye..." Fluttershy looked worried.
"And with Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark gone, it's difficult on finding answers." Rarity sighed.
"Wait! We have forgotten about someone, about a pink unicorn with blue hair!" Pinkie reminded of Jenny, who is still M.I.A.
"If only I know, where she is..." Spike answered.
"This is why, we have to go to Canterlot, in order to find the answers. It can't go on like this, especially that Fire Jewel and the others are still suffering. I've seen some ponies and non-ponies, who did terrible things before and apologised for that. They saw the error of their ways and wanted to redeem themselves, but we managed to help them with the magic of friendship. And now, it's clear, that the group is clearly in need of a guidance." Twilight explained.
"Wait, what about Johnny?" Rainbow asked.
"We'll tell High Velocity, Sweet Serenity and his friends about this, so they'll keep an eye on him and Dukey." Twilight responded, as she wrote a letter to Johnny's parents and then several others to his friends. "Come on, girls! We have to find the answers about the group."
With those words from the alicorn princess, the Mane 6 and Spike went on their way to Canterlot, in order to talk with Princess Celestia, while also sending the letters to the rest.
After some time has passed, the group had finally arrived the castle and entered the throne room, only to see Celestia sobbing.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight rushed to her mentor. "What's wrong?"
"I can't believe, I did the exact same mistake again, causing Luna to leave..." The sun princess was still in tears. "How can I be so foolish??"
"Wait, Princess Luna left!?" Twilight became panicked.
"Yes! She left with Tempest, in order to release Fire and Ocean from their cells and vanished, alongside them! But not before saying, that I would let history repeat itself, but being ignorant of the whole matter!" Celestia was still in tears.
"Oh no..." Twilight hugged her mentor, in which her friends did the same. It was clear, that they would double the effort to find the answers and solve the ever complicated problem, once and for all. At the same time, a guard came by, only to watch the scene unfold. After a while, the sobbing was silenced, as Celestia wiped her tears away.
"Your Majesty, are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine..It's just, I was sad, that I made the same mistake again, which cost my relation to Luna dearly." Celestia sighed. "Anyway, what brings you here?"
"We wanted information about the group as a whole." Twilight answered.
"I have the documents ready." The guard was holding a folder of the documents, about Fire Jewel, Ocean Spark, her friends and everything, in which he handed it over to the Princess of Friendship. The Mane 6 started to read the information about them in full. Their backstories, their profession, their rise and fall, everything.
"It's clear, that we're dealing with a troubled group, who needed a lot of help. Girls, we have to find Cherry, Breeze, Snow and Tropic!" Twilight became serious.
"Excuse me, darling? We have no idea, where they are." Rarity reminded.
"This is why we have to double our efforts to search for them. Come on, everypony!" With those words, Twilight and her friends ran off, in order to find the four elemental ponies. Meanwhile, Celestia was thinking on what to do, in order to fix the mistake. It'll take a lot of time, but she had to do it, in order to not make the exact same mistake again, as now and thousand years ago.
To be continued...