“Flicker? Flicker? Wake up.” Flicker heard the voice at the edge of her conscious.
She groaned, forcing her eyes open. Her wing hurt even worse now.
The yellow mare looked around groggily. Why was she not in the forest? What had happened?
Above her, a yellow mouth was moving. It was Fluttershy, the pony that had rescued her.
“Oh good. Are you okay, Flicker?”
“Wha– what happened?” the red-maned mare asked.
Fluttershy looked away. She looked like she was trying to answer, but could not force herself to speak the truth.
The brash voice of a mare interjected. Flicker looked to the blue mare at her side. She had a rainbow-colored mane.
“I killed them. All of them. In one big blast. You saw it right? It was awesome.”
“Rainbow!” shouted five voices at once.
The voice of the purple mare that Flicker remembered from before continued, “I’m so sorry, Flicker. We had to do something. I know I promised that we’d work it out. I just thought we would have more time.”
Flicker’s gaze shot between the six mares standing around her. All except the blue one were wearing forced smiles.
She realized that she was crying. It had happened again. And, again, she had failed to fix it.
“I could’ve saved them. Why? Why? Why did you kill them? I could’ve. I could’ve–”
Twilight Sparkle frowned. “How, Flicker? What do you know?”
“I–”
The mare looked from the unicorn, to Fluttershy, to the bed covers, and back to the purple mare again.
“I–”
She did not know. She had never had a plan.
“I–”
“Relax, sugarcube,” the voice of the orange earth pony said. “It’s not like it matters, now. It’s over.”
“I– What– What am I going to do?”
“That’s up to you,” said Applejack. “Doctor said you’d be all healed up an’ ready to leave by the time ya woke up. I’ve got a place for ya to stay, too. Until ya can get back on your hooves, at least.”
Flicker nodded in between watery sobs. She was right. It was over.
“Just one more thing, though. Twilight’s got somethin’ for you to see. You’re lucky she’s got such a sharp mind. Nopony woulda ever thought of doin’ what she did.”
“Wha–?”
Flicker watched as a small box levitated onto the bed, surrounded by the glow of purple magic. The lid opened slowly.
Inside, two small red insects scurried.
“You–?”
“The last of their kind,” the purple mare answered. “I saved them for you. I have a feeling you’ll be able to get them back to where they were before. Just, this time, with some help and a little more caution.”
Flicker looked up into the eyes of the smiling unicorn. “Thank you.”
Dear Princess Celestia,
I’m sorry I haven’t written for awhile. I’ve been very busy making friends with a very interesting new pony. Today, I finally realized just what I’ve learned from her.
I learned that even though somepony might mess up a lot, they always deserve another chance if their heart is in the right place. Sometimes, they just need a chance to start over with somepony by their side to guide and help them.
Even though it can be hard to start again, and especially hard to realize that you actually need to, when you do, everything will eventually turn out alright.
Over the past week, Flicker has taught me just this. She’s a good mare. If there’s one thing about her that’s true, it’s that her heart is always in the right place. Sometimes, what she does just doesn’t turn out like she wanted.
Oh, by the way, just how did you know that spectral blue would work? And how did you know that Rainbow would know what to do?
Your Faithful Student As Always,
~ Twilight Sparkle