Today’s the big day. Sapphire was awake before dawn and snuck out before either Twilight or Spike were up to meet Lyra at the train station. When he got there, she was asleep on one of the bags.
“Lyra? Wake up.” Sapphire shook her awake.
“Wha? 27!” she shouted as she snapped awake.
“What does that mean?” Sapphire asked.
“Oh! Nothing! Good morning, Sapphire! How are you on this exciting day?”
“I’m great and I’m ready to go,” he said.
“Awesome! The train should be here in about five minutes. Isn’t this exciting? In five minutes we’ll be off Manehattan where we’ll board the ship for Saddle Arabia. Then it’s just three days at sea until we get to the Shagya Desert Ruins.”
“HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO FLUTTERSHY!” a voice roared from nearby. Sapphire was tackled by a rainbow blur and he tumbled with another pony on top of him. When the tumbling finished he saw it was Rainbow Dash who had tackled him.
“Rainbow Dash! Get off of me!” Sapphire struggled against her.
“Not until you apologize for what you did to Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash yelled at him. Rainbow Dash was then surrounded by a violet glow and lifted off of him. Sapphire picked himself up and saw Spike, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie before him. All of them but Fluttershy, who looked at the verge of crying, wore angry faces. Sapphire cringed at the sight.
“Sapphire! Are you okay?” Lyra called as she ran over.
“I can’t believe you, Sapphire! After all we did? We gave you a place to live!” Twilight said.
“We gave you friends!” Rarity added.
“We gave you support when you had no one!” Spike said.
“We gave you help in getting your powers back!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“We welcomed you as one of our own,” Fluttershy whispered.
“We threw you a party!” Pinkie Pie said.
“We gave you food!” Applejack said.
“And after all of that, you still treated us horribly,” Twilight said.
“You’ve yelled at us!” Rainbow Dash said.
“You’ve abandoned us!” Rarity said.
“You’ve picked fights with us!” Twilight said.
“All we wanted was to help you, a stranger, and you’ve treated us so mean,” Fluttershy said.
Sapphire was struck silent until Lyra spoke up.
“Sapphire! The train’s here! All the bags are onboard. We have to leave now,” she said. Sapphire turned to her.
“Oh no you don’t! If you go with her, you’re gonna lose the seven best things in your life right now!” Rainbow Dash said. Sapphire cringed as he looked at her.
They were right though. The only reason he had lasted this long in their world is because of them. And while it was a bit unfair that they were forcing him to give up this expedition, he had done terrible things to them. The way he antagonized Rainbow Dash and Twilight, the way he abandoned Fluttershy and Rarity, and the way he ignored Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike, he had to make things right.
He looked back and forth between his friends and Lyra. Lyra was busy loading the train while his friends stared him down. He sighed. “Lyra! Forget it. I’m not going on the expedition,” Sapphire said. He could feel his friends faces relax as they breathed a sigh of relief.
“What?! After we put so much work into it?” Lyra turned back to him.
“I’ve been a terrible friend. It’s time I make things right. I won’t abandon them anymore,” Sapphire said. The train blew its whistle announcing its departure. Lyra turned back and forth between Sapphire and the train.
“What? But? You?” Lyra became flustered. She got on the train just before it left the station. Sapphire sighed.
“I’m sorry everyone. I shouldn’t have done that to you, but I promise I’ll never do it again,” Sapphire said. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike ran over and hugged him.
“We forgive you,” all seven said in unison.
“I also promise I won’t bring up the human thing anymore,” Sapphire said.
“And Rainbow and I promise we won’t bother you about it anymore,” Twilight said. Sapphire smiled. “There is one more thing though. As you know, we write letters to Princess Celestia telling her about any lessons in friendship we learn. Would you mind writing one since you just learned a lesson?” Twilight asked.
Sapphire nodded his head. “Sure.” Later that day, they were all gathered in Twilight’s library as Sapphire prepared to write the letter.
“Dear Princess Celestia. Today, I learned something important. Recently, I thought my friends were holding me back, trying to stop me from discovering who I really was. Today I learned that isn’t the case. My friends had my best interests in heart. I was just too caught up in my own ideas to realize it. I learned that I shouldn’t take them for granted, and always keep their feelings in mind whenever I do something and do everything I can not to hurt or betray them. Your humble visitor, Sapphire Spell.”
“How was that?” Sapphire asked when he finished reciting the letter to Spike. The ponies smiled and gave their approval. That night, they went to Sugarcube Corner to celebrate and for the first time in a long time, no one had any bad blood toward another.